A Summer Worth Remembering
by Lonely Traveler
Summary: Tara is thrown into the world of the demigods. Great,right? Not. When a deadly virus spreads and the blame is on her,she goes on a quest to regain the respect of her cabin and set in place events that will decide the fate of the world- again.
1. Ending the School Year with a Bang

**Ok, this is my first story, so go easy on me,ok? Alright, here we go.**

Chapter One Ending the School Year with a Bang

I was on a baseball field with a few friends when my life was changed for the better. Or the worse. It's still hard to decided. It was the last day of school, and the teachers decided to throw a picnic for the new freshmen,thinking it would release some of the tension that they had spent ten months placing on us. It had a pretty high academic standard and didn't want to seem like a bunch of pushy overachievers, so they gave us a break. But personally, I was there for the free food.

Anyways, I was playing kickball with Owen and the others. Owen's this really serious kid in my grade. He didn't laugh at much, but I always found a way how to. He had curly black hair that he never kept neat, blue gray eyes and was sort of on the lean side. When he had one of his "moments", he'll give me these bone crushing hugs, claiming they make him feel better. Go figure.

At times, I think how unalike we are. I 'm over 5 ft, dark brown hair and usually quiet. The only sport I enjoyed (in other words, actually excel in) was track. Owen, on the other hand, was the quarter back on the football team, pitched on the baseball team and was the fourth best swimmer. The only thing we had in common was the fact that we were both raised by our mothers. My mother always told me I looked a lot more like my dad, who I'd never met. Apparently, he left without a trace.

" Come on Tae!" yelled Owen from third base, using my nickname for Tara.

After one miss, I eventually kicked it to the left field. I dashed past first base and stopped at third. That knocked in two runs and we won. We all jogged off the field and I noticed Owen looking flustered.

" We've barely run across the field and you've turned into a cherry." I joked.

" Yeah, well you look… nope, you're still brown." He said.

I hit him softly in the back of his head. " That's because I can't. It isn't genetically possible."

We had settled down for some lasagna when I saw someone looking at me through the windows of the cafeteria. He didn't look familiar and kept looking around in a furtive manner. He had mousey brown hair; blue eyes and a scared look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Owen asked and followed my stare. He stiffened and grabbed my hand.

"He's ... limping this way."

"Wait." I said, making curiosity get the best of me. That seemed to be happening a lot lately " There are at least a hundred people here. What is he going to do?"

Owen wasn't happy about it, but he wasn't willing to leave me there. When I look back at that moment, I'm glad he didn't.

He ran over to us and said, " We need to leave. _Now_"

"What are you-?" I began

"You're in DANGER!" he replied. " If we don't leave now, they'll-"

Before he could finish a high pitched screech filled the air, along with lots of hissing. Then, a very scaly lizard walking on two feet burst through the gym doors, with a few shorts and socks on its head. I would've laughed at the scene before me if it weren't for the scimitars in its hands.

The strange boy yelped and pulled out some reed pipes from his pocket. He started playing the shrill tune and suddenly, the roots from the oldest tree on the campus wrapped themselves around the …scaly thing until it exploded into golden dust. But when I thought we were off the hook, two more came out.

"They're dracaenas. Run!"

Like I needed to be told that. Everyone else was in hysteria. Chairs were overturned, food was on the floor and the grill had somehow caused a fire as people ran to get out of the area. As for me, I dashed across the gym, with a dracaena in pursuit. When I tried to look behind me, the monster took a swipe at my head. I ducked just in time to trip over a fallen trashcan and slam into a wall. Stars appeared before my eyes as I fell into the corner and my left shoulder felt dislocated.

"Tara!" cried Owen in desperation. He broke away from the boy holding the reed pipes and ran towards me. But at the same time, he dropped the pipes and threw me a sword. Amazingly, I caught it in time to block a downward strike. It looked old and worn, with a glow to it.

I pulled myself out of the corner and went on the offensive, not really sure how I'd gotten the swordplay instinct. All I could think of was the killer headache I would have the next morning because of the bruise on my head. I eventually caught it off guard and lodged the sword in its ribcage. It gave one final ear-piercing screech before exploding in a cloud of dust. I looked over at Owen, who had taken care of the other one. By the time we were done, Fallon Hall was deserted.

"Great!" cried the brown-haired boy. "We should hurry before more of them-"

"Who the hell _are_ you?" we both yelled angrily. He gave us a confused look before saying, " Oh, right. I am Rollin Bolt, a satyr and demigod recruiter at Camp-"

"Satyr?" questioned Owen. " Aren't they in -?"

"Greek myths? " he replied. "Yeah. Me and those things aren't the only ones around. The Greek gods are still around – and one of them- or two in this case- is your parent."


	2. A Place Called Home

**Can't believe I forgot to do this. DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO or the characters in this story, at least not the one I made up.**

Chapter Two A Place Called Home

When those words came out of Rollin's mouth, I just stared at him. So did Owen. But what were you supposed to say when some guy you've never met tells you that your entire life will be in danger because you're a demigod?

"Ok," I said. "You have _definitely_ lost it."

"How would you explain the dracaena, then?" Rollin countered. " They aren't exactly things you see everyday."

I pondered this and finally said, " Some crazed idiots with some very serious skin conditions."

Owen laughed and Rollin just raised an eyebrow. " Ok, then." Rollin continued. " The so called riot in Manhattan last year and that bizarre storm system that swept through the US and happened to stop at the Hudson."

"Yeah?"

"That was a war for the control of Olympus between demigods from camp and the army of Kronos. The storm system was Typhon, the lord of all monsters."

"Those pictures on TV _did_ look weird." Muttered Owen.

"That would be the Mist." Rollin said impatiently.

"What's the -?"

"No time!" he said pushing us away from the school and towards the train station. Man, was he pushy. The whole time, he constantly looked over his back to check if we were being followed. It was all very unnerving. We must've transferred on at least three different lines before having to take a cab to the camp.

After sprinting across the property lines, we took a moment to take in the view. There were two groups of cabins, all in a rectangular form. Everything Rollin had told us about the camp was there. " Welcome home." Said Rollin happily.

After meeting Chiron, we were shipped off to the Hermes Cabin and there to greet us were Travis and Connor Stoll. The irony in their last names made me laugh and they certainly lived up to it. After they left, I realized that my watch had somehow slipped off when we shook hands.

Our first class was sword fighting, with the Poseidon cabin, which had at least ten kids. It actually sucked for us, because they had Percy. It would be an understatement to say that Arthur was beaten. He was barely fighting for two minutes before his sword clattered to the ground.

Eventually, it was my turn. They gave me a small sword, some armor and a shield. My opponent was a brown haired, green-eyed boy who was a lot taller than I was. I could easily go for his lower half, but my upper half would be open. He had a double-edged blade with an eerie glow to it.

" A gift." he smirked as he saw me watching it warily.

"Begin!"

He charged towards me, going for my bandaged left shoulder. I shield blocked and went for his side. But then he spun around and I literally had to roll away. I heard people snickering and I reddened.

Then I noticed that he hesitated before charging. As he got ready to, I countered. He obviously didn't like being on the defensive and staggered to keep his balance. I swept a foot under his legs and he fell, his sword falling form his hands.

" Aidan, are you really losing to an unclaimed girl!?" yelled his sibling. " You're one of our best.

At that the earth under my feet began to tremble and fissures appeared. I had almost forgotten he was a son of Poseidon.

" Isn't that cheating?" I protested as the tremors knocked me off of my feet. My sword flew from my hand.

"What are you doing?" Percy yelled angrily.

But he said nothing as he picked up his sword, grinning. That just got me really pissed. He thought he could win because I didn't know who my parent was. Well he had another thing coming. I had lost the sword, but got ready to hold the shield out in front of me

Then I felt it.

It was like the air around me solidified. Aidan tried to come near me, but was pushed back, and flew ten feet away. The ground was still shaking, but I didn't feel it. I charged while he was till confused and quickly snatched his sword from him before he fell. I held it to his neck.

"You lose."

There was a loud applause as I was lifted up into the air. Even a few Poseidon kids grinned.

"But she cheated." Aidan complained. " You all saw it."

"And you didn't?" spat Owen, who was obviously angry. Then he got calm again. How does he change moods so quickly? " That was pretty good. I didn't know there was a god of force fields."

"Me neither." I said Before we left for our next class, I quickly pulled my watch of of Connor's wrist while he was talking to a bunch of friends. I bet he didn't see that one coming. We left for arts and craft with the Hephaestus cabin. Owen's dagger was pretty good, buy my slingshot was…messed up, to say the least. I found out that my aim was pretty good. Canoeing almost gave ma a heart attack, because I couldn't swim, my Greek was terrible and I was awesome at rock-climbing.

But in the end, my skills didn't give me any hint to which my parent was. It was frustrating, but the Herms cabin made it worthwhile. There were pranks and jokes everyday and the atmosphere was easy. It wasn't as crowded s everyone said. The wallpaper was green and white, two of my favorite colors, and it would've looked just like my room at home. Messy and just the way I liked it.

In two weeks Owen and I learned to do things that kids at our school would've thought absurd. but it had become a necessity if we were going to survive. And at the end of each day, I wouldn't think of how weird it was to be there, but how lucky I was to find a place that actually felt like home.


	3. Mischief Managed

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO or the characters in this story. If I did, Luke wouldn't have died.**

Chapter Three Mischief Managed

"Connor those notes are alphabetized." I argued. " And there are _hundreds _of them. How do you expect us to get in _undetected_ and rearrange them all?"

The entire cabin was listening intently as the Stoll brothers explained their idea to break into the Athena cabin, mess with their building plans and get the blame pinned on the Ares cabin. You wouldn't believe how annoyed they got over losing one book. Imagine what happened if their entire library was reshuffled.

That's why our dad gave us these." Said Travis, pulling out three colorless suits out of a knapsack. "He got them from Aeolus, King of the Winds. We can become easily go through walls and move as if we were weightless. They're prototypes, but we've tried them out."

" You mean the those talking training dummies?" I asked.

"That was us." They said.

I had never really been one for wreaking havoc. But camp had settled down a bit too much. Besides, a little chaos couldn't hurt. The plan was for Owen and Reiss, a son of Hecate, to get in the Ares cabin to turn their weapons into toy replicas after the twins and I were finished in the Athena cabin. With the help of Kevin, a son of Eris, goddess of discord, both cabins would be so busy fighting each other, they wouldn't even bother to consider us.

As we suited up, I gave the thumbs up. We snuck out at the dead of night. As we rounded a corner, Chiron trotted over to us. We all stiffened but he passed by as if he hadn't seen a thing. We continued until we came to a grey and white cabin with a sculpture of an owl over the door, which we slipped through easily.

The inside had many work tables in the middle of the room with that beds lined against the walls. The library took up an entire wall. Every scroll, book and electronic device was in a pristine order.

And then a mischievous look came on my face.

* * *

The next day was complete chaos. Apparently, "This camp has NEVER seen such horrendous and rude actions." At least that's the way Chiron put it. The Ares cabin was turning each and every cabin inside out to look for their weapons, cursing anyone in their way. The Athena cabin was the same and they were a lot more inventive about their choice of words. When some weapons were found behind the Athena cabin and a painting of a wild boar in the Athena cabin, all Hades broke loose.

"Those scrolls had over a thousand years of architecture in them!"

"That shield is custom made!"

"If someone doesn't find that laptop-" ( A/N: Take a wild guess as to who said that)

"I won that mace on my most dangerous quest!"

Everyone in the Hermes cabin was laughing hysterically. Something told me this wasn't going to blow over anytime soon. But that was the plan. The twins said that they wanted it to last long enough to enjoy.

At breakfast, the warring cabins just glared at each other and shot really rude remarks. Just when Mr. D threatened to strangle us all, Chiron intervened.

" I assure you." He said, though he didn't sound very enthusiastic. For him, this was just another prank. " Whoever did this will be punished."

The next day was pretty much smooth sailing form there. The Athena kids showed no mercy in sword practice. I couldn't get my pegasus to land either (the stupid horse). But what I really enjoyed, more than sword fighting was running. Sure, it wasn't a class, but it was one of my favorite things to do. It was like I could almost fly and nothing could catch me. I was as quick as the third fastest nymph.

By dinner, Chiron had announced the CTF match. Because there was triple the amount of campers from before, it was decided that there should be four teams instead of two. The Red (Zeus, Ares, Hades Poseidon) and blue team (Athena, Apollo, Dionysus and Aphrodite) were allied. The Black team (Demeter, Hephaestus, Hecate and Eris) and the Green team (Hermes, Morpheus, Nemesis and Aeolus) were also.

At first I thought it was a little unfair. I mean, all children of the Big Three along with most of the major gods? It was almost as if they were putting the best on the same teams on purpose. But then I started to see the holes in the seemingly perfect teams. There weren't _that _many children of the Big Three and two of the other important cabins were having a war of their own. Our team had traps. With the Hephaestus cabin's machines; we had a pretty good chance of winning it.

With this in mind I went to visit an old friend in the forest.

When I got back, Owen was waiting for me outside of the door. Before he could scold me for being late, I told him my plan. His eyes widened.

"Are you sure you aren't a child of Athena?" he said.

I raised an eyebrow. " I have a mother, Owen. Do you really think she would-"

"Gross!" he said, closing his eyes, probably trying to remove the images in his head. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Well, who do you think your dad is?" I asked. I was curious. He didn't fit any of the profiles for any of the campers.

He frowned, " I'm not sure. I think he's trying to talk to me in my sleep but I never get close enough to see his face. It's like he doesn't want me to know him."

At that moment, he seemed the most helpless I had ever seen him. At times he could seem as brave as any demigod, but as frail as glass. He could be the son of a traitor, like Hecate. Of course, those who had sided with Kronos were forgiven, but that didn't mean they were liked.

"Maybe he wants you to find out on your own." I said. " Besides, there's no rush. I actually like it here. I wouldn't mind staying.."

I stopped as I noticed him looking at me funnily. "Whoever our parents turn out to be, we'll always stay friends right?"

"Of course." I said, giving him a tight hug.

"Always?"

"Always."

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**Ok, so this is it, my third title was a good one,wasn't it?Hehe I wonder if anyone caught the hints I dropped about who Tara's father could be.I'm actually quite pleased with it, but I would like to hear your thoughts. If I get at least 8 reviews, I'll write a really great CTF match in the next chapter....and a lot of other interesting things. Keep giving reviewing to find out!**


	4. The Biggest Upset I've ever Witnessed

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO or the characters in Rick Riordan's story. I DO own the OC's though. **

Chapter Four The Biggest Upset I've ever Witnessed

I suited up for the CTF match, feeling more excited than I had expected. I got a short sword from the armory, and a circular shield. For some reason, Owen wanted two swords instead of one.

"It just feels better." He said.

Our battle plan took a lot longer than we had hoped, but it had come to its achievement. The flags were going to be placed in the willow trees, guarded by some members of the Demeter cabin. The Aeolus cabin would use wind and arrows in our front defense, and if the Poseidon cabin tried to use the Long island Sound, they would be blown away, literally. The Hephaestus, Hecate and Hermes cabin all had traps at the front line to guard.

For offense, the Eris cabin, along with most of the Nemesis cabin and others, would form a phalanx and storm the other teams' defense by causing a panic. If that didn't work, the Morpheus cabin would cause them to see distorted images from their dreams, distracting them.

In the end, it would still be a close game. I hoped that the parents of the campers on would help us out.

"Tara!" Owen called out.

"Yeah?"

"Stop worrying." He replied.

"I'm not-"

"You always shake your right leg when you're worried." He said laughing. He was right. My right leg _was_ shaking. I was taken aback. We'd only been friends a year, but he knew me so well.

I didn't get time to think any more as the Ares phalanx; along with a bunch of other cabin members came into our view. Here were even a dozen skeleton warriors, courtesy of Nico. Once they crossed the invisible thread that I had tied between two trees, an explosion of Greek fire, confusion spells (from the Hecate cabin) and net traps appeared.

"CHARGE!" yelled Connor and Travis as I, along with the rest of the offense, took out the rest of the remaining enemy. We ran passed them and took out their second offensive line. It was annoying to have to leap over all of those grape vines that seemed to appear out of nowhere. But eventually, we got through and when I saw the other team's defenses, my jaw almost dropped for a second. The Apollo cabin had archers surrounding us from the trees. There were another dozen skeletal warriors and lighting arrows being thrown at us (**A/N: Thalia isn't Zeus' only child in this story. The same goes for the other big three kids)**.

Reiss grinned, " Well, no one said it would be easy."

Then, Connor signaled for the Eris cabin to hide in the trees.

"Really?" yelled Daniel, from the Apollo cabin. " Your own forces are abandoning you?"

That's what he thought. At that moment, the Eris cabin caused what they called, chaos. All of a sudden the Apollo cabin turned their arrows on their own teammates. Then I blew the horn. At least thirty satyrs and nymphs came out of the woods and attacked them. I saw Rollin among the group, brandishing a very scary looking club and reed pipes. He waved.

I hacked my way through a couple of Aphrodite kids and even took down two skeletal warriors with a spear. All of a sudden, a line of lighting was sent my way along with a wave of water. I could have probably outrun it, but I had been paralyzed. Thankfully, Owen pulled me out of the way and pointed to the Apollo flag that was stationed on top of a tree, covered with really thick vines. It wasn't exactly hidden out of plain sight, if you get what I mean.

I quickly climbed up the tree, dodging arrows from one of the archers. I maneuvered myself around him so that she hadn't noticed that the flags were gone until I was halfway down.

"HEY!" she screamed. Taking that as my cue to get moving I jump from the tree and rolled on the ground. I looked around wildly for Owen. I saw his figure near the bottom of the sound. What in Zeus' name was he doing? I was extremely glad when he resurfaced with the Apollo flag in his hand, because Poseidon knows I wouldn't have had the guts to go down there. He grinned triumphantly. As a volley of arrows came after us, the two of us dashed across the field in earnest.

We both had the flags in our pockets. I hoped that Owen would be able to keep up. He could sprint… but probably not for an entire half of a mile. As for me, everything was a blur. Sure, I saw campers battling and what not, but it was all going so fast that I couldn't even make out their faces. We both collapsed face first on our side of the field, exhausted but happy to see that our flags hadn't been taken. In y eyes, we had just pulled off the biggest CTF match in camp history.

Chiron appeared and said, "The winners of this CTF match are the Blue and Green teams!"

Everyone cheered and watched us unravel the flags. I didn't expect it to change, but it did. It changed into a winged shoe and my stomach seemed to flip.

"Hail Tara Rown, daughter of Hermes." The cabin cheered at finally getting another camper. The same holographic symbol appeared over my head. I looked over at Owen and was surprised by the confused expression on his face. The flag in his hand change to the symbol of a closed eye behind a dark blue background. The symbol of a dark crown appeared over his head.

"What?" I asked

"Hail Owen Dale, son of Morpheus."

I stood in awe. Didn't Morpheus control dreams or something? That would explain why he was always caught staring ahead of him and class. But then I remembered that Morpheus had sided with the Titans, putting the entire island of Manhattan in a deep sleep. Not good.

" Great!" yelled one kid form the Zeus cabin. " More traitor spawn! Why don't they just ship you and your parents off to Tartarus! No wonder minor gods aren't respected."

I wasn't all that surprised when Allison from the Nemesis cabin threw a very sharp stone at his head. Lucky for him, it hit his helmet, leaving a _very_ large dent. None of the other cabins of the minor gods seemed to take that lightly either. I saw a few of them draw their swords.

"That's enough!" growled Chiron. "Kronos warped those demigods and gods into believing he would gain them the respect they deserved. Had he known you were alive, you would've probably been in his army, Alex!"

I saw the black-haired boy cringe at Chiron's words. I made a mental note to remember his face later…

"It was Luke's sacrifice that ended the war." spat Connor.

"Respect that." glared Travis.

The game ended in silence as the other went back to their cabins. Owen's face was unusually red.

"Owen?"

He looked up slowly. Sad blue-gray eyes looked back at me.

"You're still my best friend." I whispered. He gave me a weak smile and bear hugged me. He was definitely having one of his 'moments'.

"I still don't understand why you're always hugging me." I joked.

"Because it always makes me feel better." He replied quietly.

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**I've gotten four chapters in like two days. That's great,isn't it? Anyways, the next two chapters are going to include some very interesting conversations between.... well you'll have to read to find out! And please keep reviewing. it helps me feel motivated to write. So if you're reading this, leave constructive criticism and other words of advice. Thanks for reading!**

**-LT**


	5. Interesting Dreams

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. If I did, Hades would've used the Sword of Hades on Zeus to get a throne on Olympus…JK **

Chapter Five Interesting Dreams

That night I went to sleep, or tried to, with a dozen questions going through my head. Why hadn't I noticed it before? There weren't really a lot of similarities. Were there?

But that wasn't true. I did have a habit of sneaking around and never getting caught. Before all this, I thought it was just a streak of luck. But I figured it wasn't worth thinking about all night. So I dozed off, expecting to get a good night's rest.

I was wrong.

The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't in my cabin. I was standing on stone road with hills in the distance and valley up ahead. The sky was a calm blue color, as if it was morning. I also saw a sheep pen with a man tending to them. He wore a grey traveler's cloak and held a shepherd's staff. When he turned around, I saw his curly salt and pepper hair, brown eyes and mischievous smile. He looked pretty young and athletic… and something told me this was my dad.

"Dad?" I said hesitantly.

"It's good to see you, Tara." He said warmly. " It's been awhile."

"Fourteen years to be exact." I replied with a little anger in my voice. I hadn't meant for it to come out like that. I just felt annoyed for him leaving me like that. And then I felt guilty when I saw his glow dim a little.

" I didn't want to interfere with your life all the time." He tried to explain. "But I've always watched over you. All those days you had to ride the train on your own. I sent helpers there, to make sure you were safe."

My eyes widened. " You mean those guys in the FedEx uniform carrying packages who seem to always vanish when I try to get near them?"

"Yes." He said proudly. "They're my personal helpers. As quick as the wind."

By now, we were both leaning against the fence of the sheep pen, staring at the road ahead of us.

"Why didn't you bring me here when I was thirteen?" I asked after awhile.

He frowned. " I wanted to, really, but the war…and because of Luke…. I didn't think it was the best time to be known as a child of Hermes, even if the other gods have claimed to forgive me. So I waited."

"You haven't done anything wrong." I said while looking into his eyes for some form of trickery. But I couldn't find any. He seemed genuinely sorry.

"Thanks." I said quietly. " For letting me have a normal life, at least for a while." He nodded solemnly.

"Um, I'm not sure if you were watching but… at the swordfight…" I began

"I'm the patron god of boundaries, travelers and athletes. All of the really interesting stuff." He joked. "Except for shepherds. That gets tiresome." Then he frowned. " I'm going to have to talk with Poseidon about that boy and Alex, too."

I imagined him getting into an argument with his uncle and father, two of the Big Three. Not a very pretty picture.

"It's ok." I said. " I'll get them back."

"With a prank?" he said, his eyes brightening with interest.

"Of course." I replied. He chuckled at that.

"Before I forget, I've got some gifts for you." He said.

Wrapped in a filmy package was a traveler's cloak like his, but green, a necklace with a white stone on a black thread, winged Converses (black) and.. a switchblade?

"The cloak can make you look like anyone you want to. The shoes allow you to fly, but not very high. When you have it in switchblade form, it can pick any lock or metal. The best part is the Mist covers what it really is. When push the smaller button on the side, it will turn into a sword and you can control the length with the tiny lever. It is called Kleftis, the thief. If you lose it, it will return to you in 30 seconds."

" Why 30 seconds?" I asked.

"Timing is everything." He said. " Especially when you're in a rush. Oh, the necklace can allow you to speak any language and mimic any voice, as long as you're in the area it's being spoken in."

All I could do was look at the gifts in awe. My whole life, I had thought that he didn't care. But he did.

"I've always cared for you, Tara." Could he read minds?

"I know." By now I was beginning to feel tears forming, but I pushed them back. Then he hugged me tightly.

"You'll do great things. I know it." And then he handed me the knapsack. Then a thought dawned on me.

"Do you ever visit Luke?" I blurted. I honestly have no idea why I said that. Maybe I was just being inquisitive, or maybe it was my ADHD. I saw him stiffen and little and then relaxed.

"Any time I'm in the Underworld." He said. " He's gone to Elysium."

"Could you… tell him I said hi?" I asked in a timid voice.

"Sure thing." He said with his eyes watering a little. " I think it's time for you to go."

"Wait! Was this a dream?"

He chuckled again while shaking his head. "I'll see you around, Tara."

There was a bright flash of life and I awoke, clutching a grey knapsack. All of the gifts were inside of it. As a grin appeared on my face, I fell back asleep.

Not THIS time I knew that I was still in camp. I was in a cabin with a pretty dark interior. Being inside of it had an unreal feeling to it. The ceiling seemed to look like the night sky with a few fading clouds.

"Tara.'

I yelped in fright and turned around to see Owen grinning. I punched him in the shoulder for scaring me.

"You could've given me a heart attack."

"You should have seen your face!" he laughed, wiping a tear away form his eye. "So, what did you talk to your dad about?"

I stared at him a little suspicious. " What were you doing in that dream."

His eyes widened. "I didn't mean it like that. I can tell what the person is dreaming about, but if there's a god in them, I can't enter."

I pondered this. " So you're in my dream, but you've changed it to look like your cabin."

He nodded and I told him what had happened. He had gotten some gifts of his own. Apparently, his dad had talked with him also and when he woke up, the gifts were right next to us. He had been given a twin hoplite swords (**A/N: If you have trouble under standing what it looks like, look it up on Google images)**, armor that could withstand intense heat and the tattoo of a half closed eye on his left hand that gave him the ability to conjure a shield with the same symbol on it.

"Don't stare at it too long." He warned. "You can fall asleep-or worse."

"How was your dad?" I asked.

"He's alright." He said. " Doesn't say very much, but I can tell he cares. He taught me a few tricks on how to enter people's minds and asked me to send my mother his regards… are you yawning?"

I shook my head but in truth, I was deadbeat from the CTF game and having two people keep me up all night.

"Maybe you should get some rest." He said.

"I'm fine." I said while yawning loudly.

He just shook his head and put a finger to my forehead. " Sleep well, Tara."

And I fell asleep for the whole night.

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**Ok, chapter five at last. Did you like? I feel like I've been writing a lot of emotional chapters, but don't worry, I've saved the action for later.**

**Some of you are probably wondering why I chose for the main character to be a child of Hermes. **

**1. He's my personal favorite**

**2. Rick Riordan made him seem like a real person in the last book, not just one of the other Olympians. He gave him real feelings and his role in the 5th was, I felt, one of the most important.**

**3. Always on the move (kind of like me).**

**4. I don't know. I've always enjoyed the fact that he got the winged shoes. I always thought that was awesome.**

**As for Owen being a son of Morhpeus, I thought it would be an interesting change from the 12 olympians.**

**Ok, so keep reviewing and what not, because it DOES help.. and I want to thank HookedOnAvatar011 for being my first review! Thanks for your support! Stay tuned for the next chapter.**

**LT**


	6. Spies and Confrontation

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. **

Chapter Six Spies and Confrontation

I finally did get the chance to use my sword, but not in the way I expected. I was jogging around the woods before breakfast. It's what I did every morning, just to clear my head (and not have to hear Connor's snoring).

It felt colder than usual and the sound looked a little choppy. I shivered. All I had worn was the camp T-shirt, shorts and a hat.

_Maybe Poseidon's feeling moody_ I thought.

Just then, the only indication I had of the monster's presence was its panting. I froze, turning in the direction of the oak tree where I had heard the noise. The camp's barriers were still a little weak because of the war, but they had been repairing it. Could a monster really break through?

All I had on me was my sword. No shield or even armor. I pulled out the blade and pressed the button. The handle was silver and green, with intricate patterns of roads and wings. The blade had two edges and seemed to glow with a silvery hue. The sword was light and nimble, kind of like me.

Before I could take a step closer, a hellhound jumped from behind the tree. My reflexes took over, putting up a very quick force field. It bounced back and landed on its side. It growled and the person on its back cursed. He slid off and went towards me.

"Yield!" he said to the dog…. I mean hellhound. His face was completely covered in a black mask. He wore all black, even his armor that had the engraving of a hand that looked as if it had been struck by a disease. It was glowing faintly.

"A fellow half-blood." He said in a cold voice while pulling out a curved sword. "This ought to be good."

"Who are you?" I said trying to sound scared. It was a diversion so I could get help.

"Don't worry." He said. "It'll be over quickly."

He pushed towards me, but because the force field was invisible, he couldn't see it and was pushed back even harder. Luckily, his hound stayed calm. Instead of going after him, I sounded the small emergency horn that Chiron had given each of us as a "safety precaution." I must've made a huge racket, because several nymphs and satyrs poked their heads out of the trees.

"What are you doing?" asked one nymph, looking confused.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I replied angrily. Was she blind?

The intruder, sensing trouble, took out a small can and threw it into the forest. That was weird. He took his dog and they set off. I ran after him, but I wasn't fast enough. I was able to chase him to the highway. I took out a slingshot, aimed as best as I could while running and shot a sharp stone to the back of his dog. The stone shattered, but a small device stuck onto it.

By the time he'd left, half of the camp was standing by the seashore, armed and ready. I quickly told Chiron what had happened. He seemed bewildered.

" I didn't see you fighting anyone. " said one nymph. " I thought you were fighting yourself."

I just stared at her. "Are you blind in one eye or something?" I asked rudely. She stuck out her tongue at me. Chiron looked doubtful.

"Of course, it would have to be someone from the Hermes Cabin to wake everyone up at seven in the morning." Mumbled Chelsea from the Demeter Cabin. I shot her a nasty look.

"I don't know what happened, but I saw him." I said defiantly. " And I think whatever he threw in the forest could be dangerous."

" I thought Kronos was back in Tartarus." Asked one kid.

"He is subdued." Said Mr. D. " But there are others, like Oceanus and Krios, who are still around."

That didn't make me feel much better.

For the rest of the week, the campers and counselors were on edge. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off, but we weren't really sure where. I could tell that neither Chiron nor Mr. D really believed me. But to lighten the mood… I _did_ release a dozen mice into the Zeus cabin (I did say I would remember Alex's face), but needed Owen to help because I didn't want to touch them.

But my troubles really began when the Athena cabin figured out that it was the Hermes cabin that had done the prank. _Took you long enough_ I thought as I saw Annabeth and Clarisse screaming at the Stoll brothers.

" I should've known you two would do something like this!" the blonde yelled.

"Yes," said Connor, with a smirk on his face. " Yet you didn't figure that out until now."

Annabeth gave him such a hard glare, I expected him to at least cringe, but he just stood there, as if this had happened plenty of times before. It probably had.

"When are you going to give it a rest?" growled Clarisse.

"What fun would that be?" I blurted out. Why do I keep doing that? All three of the older half bloods looked at me.

"Beat it, punk!" barked Clarisse. I just looked at her.

" I'm sorry, I don't speak pig." I said in a cool voice. Not my best comeback, but it had the right effects.

She drew her sword and took a quick hack at me. I dodged to the side as her sword got stuck in the grass. I kicked it out of her hand. You're probably wondering what in Hades' name I did this for. Well, I was getting frustrated. The entire camp I thought I had made that story up and given the recent history of … a certain son of Hermes, I wasn't making us look too good. And now this bipolar, idiotic excuse of a demigod yelled at my half-brothers and called me a punk.

" I am going to **KILL** you!" she roared, trying to get back up, but I gave a quick kick to the side of her head and she went unconscious.

"Whoa" said Travis. " I've never seen anyone take her down like that since Percy."

"Like I was saying." I continued. " We always do stuff like this. You do building plans, well we do pranks. And you retaliate. It's just the way things are. The twins have been pulling pranks since they were born. Why should this be any different?'

She just looked at me with those grey, calculating eyes. She made me really uncomfortable.

" I'll see you around." She said, turning back to her cabin. I heard the twins exhale.

"Why were you holding your breath?" I asked.

"I could've sworn she was going to tackle us. Or worse" Said Connor. " But you know what this means, right?"

"No…"

" You said that we do pranks and they retaliate." Said Travis. " And they **are** going to retaliate. Big time."

"Then we'll be on our guard." I said.

They grinned. "She's right Connor. No one has EVER pulled a successful prank on the Hermes cabin."

"And we'll make sure it stays that way."

We heard Clarisse groan. The brute had awoken. She caught sight of me and her eyes blazed like fire.

"See you two later." I said quickly before sprinting as fast as my legs would take me and hearing a string of curse words behind me

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**Ok, Chapter six. Did you like it ? DId it make sense? Even if you want to say good job, I'll welcome those kinds of comments,too. Thanks for reading.**

**LT**


	7. Chariot Races and Silent Explosions

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. If I did, Nico wouldn't be so hostile.**

Chapter Seven Chariot Races,Prank Wars and Silent (but Deadly) Explosions

When the twins said that the Athena cabin would retaliate, I was thinking of small, simple things -Like leaving bucket of ice-cold water over our door. But no. They came up with things that I wouldn't have thought twice about. For example, I had just come back to my cabin from a class on Monster Assault Techniques when I noticed that my bed looked different.

It had been made.

Usually, I try to fix it as best as I can before going to jog and don't usually come back in time to properly fix it properly before cabin inspection. And no one in my cabin would go snooping through my stuff. That's what the traps were for…

I pulled away the sheets to find, several bags of birdseeds under it, and my pillow. I looked through other beds, sleeping bags and windowsills. When I realized what the Athena cabin had been planning, I had to admit that they were geniuses. If I hadn't gotten rid of them (even the one on the ceiling), our cabin would've been drenched in bird crap. It **definitely** isn't the nicest thing to step in.

To return the favor, I used the traveler's cloak and winged shoes (Dad really does know how to pick his gifts) to sneak on top of the roof of the Athena cabin disguised as Kate. Lucky for me, the Athena Cabin was right across from ours and after the first prank I had learned to study it well. I told them I was " thinking of a device to predict weather from months ahead and needed to see if it would fit on the roof." They actually bought the lie and I opened the bags, spilling the seeds in the gutters, around the chimneys and got some through the window.

They came like vultures. I knew the camp borders worked on mythical creatures, but no one said anything about ordinary pigeons. It was as if they had seen it from afar. It was a mass of gray and black, making a bomb dive right towards the camp. They smashed through windows and I saw a few of the Athena kids fighting to get their building plans back from the food-crazed pigeons.

I even left some for the Aphrodite Cabin. Now _that_ was funny.

There were other failed pranks by their cabin. Like coating the armory weapons in motor oil. But nothing too major. I did get a chance to cover the front steps of their cabin in tar, put itching powder in their laundry and push a few of their sleepy cabin members into the bushes while they weren't exactly awake. You're probably saying 'that was mean.' But hey, it's called a prank war for a reason.

In the midst of all of this, we had a chariot race a week later. Usually we would take out the rickety old chariot and hope to win. But Ben, my half-brother, and I decided to do something different. We bought (um actually, we might've 'borrowed' them) these wheels that could take on any surface, put spikes all over it. And gave it a much needed paint job. By the time we were done, it was a hunter green color with the words HERMES written in white, Greek letters. Everyone decided it should be Ben and me driving the chariot, since we'd fixed it.

We pulled the horse drawn chariot out that day, a bit more excited about this race than usual. Our horses were dark grey with messy manes. Our first ace was against Aeolus, who had a sky blue chariot with white horses. They constantly tried to push us off of the course. But we used a grappling hook and some crazy driving skills to get their chariot to topple over.

Our next race against Eris was a bit harder. For one thing, Ben and I couldn't stop arguing about the right way to drive the chariot.

"What do you mean I'm not steering them right." Yelled Ben. "They're fine!"

""You grip the reins any harder and they're going get annoyed!" I retorted. But then I realized what they were doing. Arguments were their specialty. I told this to Ben and his eyes narrowed in determination. We were right next to the other chariot by now when I pulled out long bronze spear with rope attached. I threw it at the wheel. It caused their chariot to jerk forward and eventually topple over. By the time they had gotten up we had one.

The race against the Zeus cabin really worked me up. As if Luck (actually it's Caerus the personification of luck) was on my side, Alex was on the chariot. He smirked at me, dark hair whipping in the wind. He set a small spark at or chariot (wooden) and a small flame began to flicker.

" What are you playing at?" yelled Ben as I tried to stop it from spreading. Our horses began to neigh, as they smelt the burning.

"I feel sorry for you really." He said. " Being a child of Hermes doesn't have many benefits, does it?"

That did it.

My eyes narrowed and I clenched my hand around the spear. He had crossed the line.

"Ben, bring us closer." I said. I tied the switchblade to the spear and aimed at the wheels. I threw it and it lodged into both wheels. Before he could react, I punched Alex in the face and he went careening backwards. The chariot veered off the course and we won. Just to make a point, I flipped him the finger.

The final game was the hardest and it was against the Athena cabin. Their strategic abilities would be overwhelming. But we had our tactics, too. It would be a fair race.

At least, that's what I thought before I saw that Annabeth would be guarding the chariot. I sent a quick request up to dad before getting our things ready. The spear had snapped, but I still had a dagger and net.

As soon as the horn was sounded, the chariots were neck and neck. I got a little surprised when Malcolm drew the chariot close and she began to attack me. What would that accomplish? But then I realized that in the process, she was distracting Ben, which would give them the ability to pull ahead. I put up a quick barrier, pushing their chariot away from ours.

"Keep them steady." I told Ben.

She then threw a sort of trip wire towards the wheels. Something told me that if it got close to the wheels, something bad would happen. I took one broken half of the spear and the wire got caught in it. I threw it near the horse, hoping to scare it off. When I did this she, glared at me. Something told me she didn't like losing and the fact that I had screwed with their pranks and took part in the library prank didn't help.

This went on for a while and we were still tied. While she pulled out something else, I threw the net over their chariot. It was pretty big and the horses went into a panic. They veered to the side, struggling to get it off. Ben drove on, and we hi-fived. I couldn't believe it. We had beaten the Athena cabin.

But then I turned around.

A small dark blue cylinder came soaring through the sky. I saw a small timer on side. When I realized what it was, I suddenly thought of the can that the mysterious man had thrown into the forest.

"Styx." I muttered. " Ben! Hard left! They've got a bomb!"

His blue eyes widened, "They just don't give up, do they?"

He turned so sharply that I almost flew out of the chariot, but I grabbed onto the side just in time. The bomb exploded and coated the ground where we had been riding in a light green substance. Luckily, it didn't catch us and we crossed the finish line. Our cabin mates swamped us.

"Because of an excellent display of strategy and driving skills," said Chiron. " I award the Hermes cabin first shower privileges."

You're probably saying 'That isn't a big deal.' But when your cabin never gets to use the showers first because the cabin is never neat, that usually means no hot water or, on the rare occasion, no water at all. So, yes. This was a reason to celebrate.

Later that day, everyone was on the beach. The sun was setting slowly as I went over to Owen.

"What's up?" he asked, turning away from a friend.

" It's private." I muttered For some reason, Owen's eyes began to study me and he nodded.

We walked to the end of the beach that was less crowded

" We have to find that thing that was thrown in the forest." I blurted.

His eyes widened. "Tara, Chiron said-"

"That they had looked everywhere for it and couldn't find it." I said " He also said it wasn't dangerous, but you know as well as I do that is a load of Minotaur dung. Look, I have a really bad feeling about this. I felt it when I saw the bomb that Annabeth threw-"

"Oh yeah," laughed Owen. " It had this really sticky substance in it-"

" Like I said, we need to find it." I continued. " It could be like the bomb. What if it has timer, and it's almost expired?"

"But we don't know what it is."

"Which make it all the more dangerous." I said. " Are you coming or not?"

He looked at annoyance and confusion on his face. He got up and headed towards the forest. I followed him. We went back to the spot where I had seen him throw it. I expected to see it hidden under a bush or something. We searched for what seemed like an hour. I grew frustrated.

" There's nothing here." He said.

I looked again nonetheless. I decided to paw through the bushes until I came to a tree. Feeling desperate, I pushed my hand into the hallow of the tree. My heart skipped a beat when I felt something warm and metal inside. I pulled it out and took a closer look. It was relatively small, with a plastic, see-through case. Inside of it was glowing orange, with a slow moving liquid inside. On the side was a small timer. It was at one minute.

"Oh Zeus." Murmured Owen. "How do we stop it?"

I just shook my head and took out my switchblade. I turned it into a sword and was about to strike it Owen shouted, "No1 You might break it and release whatever's inside."

"So what do we do, then?" It was at 45 seconds now. He took it and opened the timer with a small screwdriver. He was good with engineering stuff. He pulled at a small blue wire and yanked it out. The timer stopped. I sighed in relief.

"Nice job." We were about to take it to Chiron when all of a sudden it began again. It speeded up to 15 seconds. He fiddled with it vigorously, but was getting nowhere. Soon it was at 10 seconds. My heart was beating an extremely fast rate.

" Tara?" he said in a frightened voice. When the timer hit three seconds, it started to shake. I grabbed it and threw it as hard as I could in the direction of the camp, hoping it went as far away from the beach as possible. But then a strange gust of wind came blowing back towards us, which was weird, because the sound was behind us. I felt a strange queasiness that went away after awhile. I looked at Owen and his expression was the same as mine, _We are soo screwed._

We ran back to the beach at top speed, hoping nothing was wrong. But after feeling that gust of wind, I wasn't so sure. We got to the beach; out of breathe (which is very unusual for me).

"Is everyone ok?" I yell, catching the attention of everyone on the beach. They look at Owen and I like we just crawled out of a garbage can.

"Guess so" murmurs Owen.

But then it happened.

First I saw some Zeus kid start to cough. It sounded really bad. Then another. It was like a Domino effect. Half bloods just started to fall; clutching their chests as if they were trying to yanks something out. It was one of the single most terrifying things I had ever seen. By the time it was over, only some demigods were standing, particularly half bloods of the minor gods.

And my cabin, of course.

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**whoo cliffie! Ok, you're probably wondering 'what the hell was that?' But it's part of the story,isn't it? Review!**

**LT**


	8. Crappy Deadlines and Rachel's Big Mouth

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. **

Chapter Eight Crappy Deadlines and Rachel's Big Mouth

It was bad enough that none of the children of the minor gods went into a coughing fit, but when no one in the Hermes Cabin got sick, well, that raises a lot of suspicion. I glanced at Owen, who was on my right side. He looked frightened and confused. He couldn't have activated it on purpose…

Chiron, the satyrs, nymphs and Mr. D were all fine. The centaur walked towards some half bloods, as if looking for a clue.

" Why didn't they …get sick?" wheezed one girl.

" You planned this didn't you?" said one angry boy who was probably in the Ares cabin. He tried to get up, but fell quickly, as if that labor alone was enough to weaken him. Even on the brink of death, they still managed to try and out up a fight.

I looked among those that I had thought were friends. But now, all I saw were deathly pale faces, giving me hateful glares. And some of those faces were a lot paler than others…

And then I realized. Kids like Alex, Aiden and Nico looked a lot worse than Malcolm or Clarisse. Whoever had done this must've had a grudge against the Big Three. I told Chiron, but he didn't seem very convinced.

"But who, or what, would do something like this?" he asked.

"Don't say you actually believe her." Coughed one of the demigods. "She's lying."

Of course, I wasn't. But the evidence against me was unavoidable. There was the incident on the beach, where only I saw the spy, the numerous pranks I helped to pull and also-

"How do you explain those two sneaking off into the woods while everyone else was here?" said a boy from the Athena cabin.

Oh right. I almost forgot that one.

"For a child of Athena, you really are stupid." Owen growled at the boy. Remember when I told you Owen had a rarely seen temper? Well, now it was starting to flare. " We went there to find it because Tara thought it was dangerous. There was a timer and it was at one minute and we were far from the beach. What would you have done? I tried to stop it, but failed. So don't go throwing accusations you stuck-up as-"

" I think he gets it." I murmured to him.

By now, Chiron was rubbing the sides of his head as he was trying to get rid of a headache. Mr. D was pissed, because his kids were sick and he could do nothing about it. And everyone else, except for Owen and Rollin, were giving me dirty looks.

" I want the satyrs to help the sick campers to their cabins. Tomorrow, we will have an assembly.

As everyone filed out of the beach, I made sure that I satyed clear of everyone else' way. I don't know why. It just felt like the right thing to they going to kick me out of the camp? I said goodbye to Owen and Rollin and went into my cabin a lot more discouraged than before. I wasn't the only one. Everyone in the Hermes Cabin seemed distraught.

"You do know I didn't do this on purpose, right?" I asked them.

A few of them just looked up at me. " I belive you." Said Ben. "No matter how absurd it sounds. And you did the right thing, trying to stop it. Might not have made a difference, but at least you tried."

"Lights out." Said Connor quietly. I had never felt depressed in the Hermes cabin. Some of us said it wasn't possible, but I guess they were wrong.

I was hardly asleep when I began to dream and the first person I saw was my Dad. He looked a little troubled. But when he talked, he acted as if nothing was wrong and wass pleased to know about the prank war. He even taught me some sword tricks.

" It can turn invisible , which comes in handy if you're fighting in front of mortals." He said. "The Mist wil make it appear as if the monster attacked itself."

By now he was rubbing his hands constantly. I knew something was up.

" What's wrong?"

I could tell he was going to try and lie, but he decided against it.

"News travels quickly, especially when you're the one delivering it." He sighed. " Zeus has threatened to throw me into Tartaurus."

My stomach dropped like a stone. "He can't do that!" I yelled. " It wasn't your fault. It was…"

But I _didn't _know who it was. It's needless to say that at this point, I thought I was losing my sanity. I just lowered my head and stared at the road ahead of me.

" We'll find out soon enough." He said getting up to leave. " If you notice that I'm not around… don't feel worried."

My eyes widened. "He's actually going to do this?"

He quickly kissed me on the forehead and said, "You have my blessing."In a flash of bright light, he was gone.

I awoke , feeling worse than before. The first streaks of morning light had made their way through the windows. It was the day of the assembly.

****************************************************************

The assembly was held in the amphitheatre, where we had to cross the creek to get to. On most days, Owen and I would've tried pushing each other in. But considering the circumstances…well, you understand. Everyone sat by their cabins. Chiron was standing in the center and he looked nervous.

" You all know why we're here, so there's no need for an introduction. I've asked the Apollo cabin to help with their medical experience, but the situation is still grim. Even Apollo can't seem to identify it. And the fact that it's airborne makes things worse. We..might not get an antidote."

It was then that several things happened at the same time. All of the campers began to groan at Chiron's news, I dropped my head, and then a extremely bright light covered the entire theatre. From the light came the Olympians, Hades and a lot of other gods I couldn't identify . By the looks of it, they were quarreling fiercly. What made the situation funny was that several campers actually yelled, "Mom?" and "Dad!" And it wasn't only the smaller kids.

But my mood fell when I realized that my father wasn't there.

_That bastard_ I thought of Zeus in my head, but paled, thinking he could read minds.

I couldn't help but think what would happen to the theatre with so many celestial beings in one place-especially angry ones. It could start a fire.

"What a… pleasant surprise." Said Chiron. But he was merely ignored and looked at the campers…particularly me.

"It seems treachery is a common thing among children of Hermes." Glowered Demeter.

Lin, the gir sitting next to me, shot out of here seat so quickly I almost toppled over. I managed to pull her back before she was turned into a boquet of flowers.

"And you!" barked Ares as he pulled Owen by his shirt. "Like father, like son."

Before I could get up, a low but dangerous voice that sent a shiver up my spine said, "Put my son down if you know what's good for you."

Ares' fiery-like eyes turned to the god who had spoken. "Or what?"

"I'll put each and everyone of your children in a coma. And you know I can." The man was relatively tall, with a face I would proably never remember-partly because it kept changing. I got dizzy just looking at it. He looked like he was in his thirties. But when he did stop morphing (**haha: Morpheus and morphing, get it?**), the blue-grey eyes were the first thing that let me know that it really was Owen's father. That and the serious look he got whenever he was worried. He was wearing a black button shirt and dark jeans. Not classy, but casual.

Ares roughly dropped Owen and went back to glaring at me.

" All I have to say is this." Rumbled Zeus in his striped suit, causing little sparks to fly. "If you don't find the antidote in a week and my children-"

"YOUR children?" roared Hades indignantly. " What about everyone else's you self-righteous son-of-a-"

"Hades." Said Hestia in a warning tone that made him flinch. That's your own mother you're talking about. But he does have a point , Zeus. Be fair."

All I could do was stare. What was she doing here? And how could she make Hades _flinch_. Maybe because she was the oldest, at least technically.

" If you don't find some kind of cure in a WEEK, I'm sending you, your siblings and Hermes into Tartaurus!" he roared. As if to make it legitamate, a bolt of lighting fell right at my feet. I must've jumped at least three feet in the air before falling backwards. "That goes for you too, son of Morpheus."

"What the Hades was that for?" I muttered under my breathe. I looked at Owen. He was as pale as I was.

It was then that Hestia came over to where we were sitting. All of the other gods had gone to their kids. She wore a simple brown dress and her eyes glowed like coals. She was in adult form and smiling.

"How are you feeling? Sandwiches?" she asked. With a wave of her hand, a table full of turkey sandwiches appeared. I had at least three. What? You can't blame me. It was eight in the morning and we hadn't had breakfast.

"Have you see him?" I asked nervously. "He isn't in…" I couldn't bring myself to ask.

" He's been banished from Olympus and before Zeus could send him to Tartaurus, he escaped."she said sadly. "He can't contact you or else he'll be traced, but I'm sure he's safe."

Then she looked at me in a foreboding sort of way. "You may feel lost, but you will be triumphant in the end. But you have to consider your choices."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. "I'm sorry,what?"

"You'll see." She smiled and in a flash a light she was gone, along with the others. This had to be THE weirdest Saturday ever.

And just to add to the confusion, Rachel's eyes glowed green, she doubled over and began to speak.

**_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

**So, how'd I do? I didn't really like it, but it _is _necessary for the...well, you'll see. Anyways, read and review. I'm glad you chose to read it!**

**LT**


	9. A Confusing Prophecy & Revealing Dreams

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. If I did, Bianca would be alive. Oh. I don't own the song Stop and Stare. I belongs to their respective artists or whatever :p**

Chapter Nine Confusing Prophecies and Revealing Dreams

"_To save their lives she must fulfill_

_The sacred oath of his one will._

_If they do not change their way,_

_All will fall by the end of day._

_The future of those that didn't prevail_

_Will be found on a rebel's trail."_

When she was finished, she groaned heldher head in pain. All of the campers just stared. As for me…

"WHAT?!"

Nothing that she had said made sense at all. At least not to me. Sacred oath? What sacred oath?

"I believe you have a quest, Tara." said Chiron.

"Good. Maybe she won't come back alive!" yelled someone from the stands. The comment was quickly followed by a tumult of words that I wouldn't feel comfortable repeating.

"SILENCE!" roared Mr. D. I didn't think he had it in him. "Choose your quest members so we can leave,please."

"Owen and Rollin." I said quickly. I saw them grin out of the corner of my eye. If I was going on a dangerous and life-changing quest, I would want them with me.

"Very well then." said Chiron. "You leave tomorrow morning."

That night, a lot of my cabinmates were giving mewords of encouragement. They had even gave me a shield. It was iron, round with a winged hat in the middle and had Greek written along the edges. It sprang out everytime I twisted the green ring on my left middle finger. They said it had belonged to another camper who had died. That didn't make me feel much better…

Then the Stoll brothers pulled me over to talk. It seemed like those two went everywhere together. But then I realized I might not see them, or camp, again.

"First quest, huh?" said Connor said nervously. "Pretty exciting."

"Sure." I said not feeling very estactic.

"Connor and I went on our first quest to…" then Travis sighed. "Look, I'm not going to say I'm not worried. Percy went on his first quest when he was twelve, but that was Percy."

_It's good to know you have faith in me_ I thought sarcastically.

"I mean, it doesn't sound too dangerous, but you never know. I don't want to lose you. And be careful around Owen. You two say you're just friends but don't do anything I would do-"

"Travis take it easy." His twin said quietly. "She gets the point. We have faith in you."

Then, they gave me a hug and Connor said, "Do this for Dad and all of the other minor gods."

I went to sleep, hoping to Morpheus that I wouldn't have any bad dreams. I'm guessing he didn't get the message.

_It was summer and Tara was talking to Owen online from her parent's apartment . Her mother was cooking and her step-father,Ryan, was watching TV. Her step-brother, Sawyer, was reading a book. _

"_Tara, could you help me out here?" her mother yelled. "You've been on the laptop for an hour."_

"_I'm talking to someone." She yells back. " Can I have a minute ?"_

"_No."_

_She sighs, telling Owen that she'll be right back and goes to help her mom with the dinner. While she's unpacking the groceries, she asks her mom a few questions._

"_Why can't he help?" she whispers._

"_Tara, he just got back from work." She says. "Cut him some slack."_

"_I know, but it wouldn't kill him to unpack some of these things." She muttered. " We shouldn't have to do this on our own."_

_Her mother then stops chopping the celery. Tara was afraid to look up because she knows that she'll be glaring at her. After awhile she looks at her mother-only to find her slumped on the floor._

"_MOM?" she yells, her heart, beating out of her chest. She shakes her, trying to get some sign of life. But all she does is snore._

_Giving up, Tara goes into her step-brother's room. He is unconscious, with the book to his stomach. She then sees Ryan on the couch fast asleep._

"_Is this a joke?" she yells. "Because if it is I swear you guys are going to get it!"_

_There was no reply. Not even an snigger. With rising fear, she realized that this wasn't a prank and they could be …_

_No, she thought. She grabbed her cellphone and called the first person she could think of: Owen._

"_Tara?" he said, wit evident fear in his voice. "My mom, she isn't- she just-"_

"_Owen hang on." She said. "Is she... breathing?"_

"_Yes, but she isn't_ awake_." He said. "Is she in a coma or something?"_

_She wasn't sure what to say. "I'm coming over."_

"_Alright, thanks." He said before turning his phone off._

_Of course, she felt bad about leaving them there, but Owen needed her. And as far as she could tell, they weren't in any immediate danger. She grabbed a jacket to put over her t-shirt. The wind had been picking up lately. The news had blamed it on the storm system that was sweeping across the country._

_She wasn't sure how long she had been running. Owen's house was at least fifteen minutes away. It was a two-story Federal building, with the other tenants living on the second floor. She semed to be moving unusually fast, because she could make the house out from the distance._

_It was then that she saw it, a large black dog on the other side of the street. It growled and she froze. Inan instant, it pounced, but she had ran into a building by then. She locked the doors, but the beast smashed ran up the staris with her heart almost beating out of her chest. Finding a nearby closet, she locked herself in with a broom in her hand. She called Owen again and told him the news._

"_Are you sure it's a dog?"_

"_Yes!" she whispered. " I need help. What do I do? It's still out there."_

_There was a pause before he said, "Stay put. I'm on my way."_

_Before she could protest, he hung up. She peaked her head out a few times, but saw no one. An hour later , she heard the window creak open and out came Owen. His clothes were torn in several places and he looked terrified._

"_Don't use the cellphone." He said. "I think they're following us because of the cellphones."_

_She looked at him like he was crazy. "It's true. Everytime I tried to call you while on my way here they found me! Don't use it."_

_She turned it off. "Why are we the only ones awake? Why is everyone else asleep? And what was that thing?"_

_He just shook his head and peered out the window again his eyes widened. When she looked also, she saw a horde of monters looting buildings and setting them on fire. They made inhumane sounds and bore a purple banner with a silver scythe. There were dozens of them._

"_Why are they headed towards Manhattan ?" She wondered. Owen, however was trying to pull her away. "They'll see you."_

_They went into the building's cellar, carrying a radio and some food with them. Owen explained that they should wait it out until help arrived-if it did. They stayed there for what seemed like hours until they hearda distant rumbling. Tara shrank where she sat. She hated storms. The sound grew even louder until they could hear the powerful whistling of the wind. The both flinched when they heard a sickening crunch and the sound of a car alarm go off._

_After awhile they both ventured outside to see what had happened. Though they weren't very close to the Hudson River, they could still feel the storm's effects. Tara had to duck when a stop sign came crashing through the store window. They hurried back inside , locking the doors and staying in the cellar. She couldn't help but shake as she heard the storm intensify. She put her head in between her legs and covered her ears._

_Owen went over to her and hugged her. "We'll be fine." He said, but found it hard to belive his own words. The door to the cellar was beginning to creak. So he did the only thing he could._

"_This town is colder now. I think it's sick of us._

_It's time to make our move. I'm shakin' off the rust._

_I've got my heart set on anywhere but here._

_I'm staring down myself, counting up the years."_

_He was singing one of her favorite songs. For some reason, she began to feel drowsy…_

"_Steady hands, just take the wheel._

_Every glance is killing me._

_Time to make one last appeal_

_For the life I lead."_

_Just then, the ground began to rumble and he choked on the words for a second. He held ont her a little bit tighter, but when he looked down, she saw that Tara was asleep._

_A few minutes later, everything seemed to calm down. He wakes her up and looks outside._

_Everything looks the way it was. People were awake, rubbing their heads as if confused. They got to a small group, crowding the television. As they watched they saw people, gangs as the news reported said, fighting each other. But video didn't look that way to them…_

_Tara looked at Owen. "We can't tell anyone about this can we?" she whispered._

_He just shook his head. "We should get back home." This time, they walked together in fear of being attacked._

_And they never spoke of it again._

I woke abruptly, soon wishing I hadn't fallen asleep. I would usually replay that event in my sleep. It's not like I wanted to. It just happened. Sometimes it would end with the doors bursting open and the hound would find where we were. And other times the building would begin to collapse before I awoke.

"You must really enjoy your job." I said, silently cursng Morpheus in my head. The only thing that day had really taught me was to limit my use of the cellphone to once a week if I wanted to avoid monsters tracking me…

" Tracking…" I said, suddenly realizing the connection.

I knew that the man on the beach had something to do with this. When I had thrown the slingshot, a small device had clung to his dog. It was an Iris Tracker, a prototype but it worked.

If I could get track his movements, I could steal the antidote. And if that didn't work, I would make him give it to us.

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**Whoop! Two chapters in one day! Thank God for summer vacation! I'm hoping to finish this before school starts...**

**Anyways, what did you think? I thought it was a good idea to provide a bit of a back story. I hope I did well. Thanks for reading.**

**LT**


	10. New Faces

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO,or Nissan. Or Chicago…ok you get the point.**

Chapter Ten New Faces

On that Sunday morning, I got up early and headed out to the Hephaestus cabin to steal the monitor for the tracking device. I figured that they wouldn't need it in their current condition and, in a way, I was doing it for their own good.

For my safety (Believe me, you do NOT want to get caught in one of their traps. They hurt. Ask Connor.), I went quietly through the window, avoiding a trip wire that would have activated the tazer by the windowsill. Their cabin had two parts, the experiment room and the place where they slept. The experiment room had a bunch of metal contraptions and spare parts of things I didn't know could exist. They even had their own furnace and power tools.

I looked carefully at the electronics section (yes, they were actually labeled) for the monitor. Terrance had said that it would be rectangular, with a small antenna at the side. Sifting through a pile of remotes, I found it wrapped in a bubble package. Putting it safely in my pocket, I went back to my cabin, but not before rearranging some of their devices ( I couldn't help it! Daughter of Hermes, remember?).

Back at my cabin, I packed every gift that had been given to me, clothes, some drachmas and a few books to read along the way. Before leaving, I took a look back at my siblings, who were all still asleep because it was so early. A wave of sadness overtook me as I looked at them.

Owen and Rollin were at the at the camp border near the pine Fleece was there.

"Why can't we just use the Fleece?" I asked, hoping to stop the quest before it began.

"If we do, the camp borders could be crippled." Imformed Rolin. I sighed. Something told me this wasn't going to be easy. At that, I looked down at the tracker. The glowing green dot had settled somewhere in Chicago. We took the Gray Sisters' taxi cab and had to endure the bickering for the entire forty-five minutes. They were only wiling ot go as far as downtown Colmbus, Ohio. Seriously, if you don't **have** to take this cab, don't. All you'll end up with is an upset stomach and a migraine.

Columbus was nice. It was a modern city with all of the skyscrapers and what not. It was almost like New York City, but in a way it wasn't. We stayed in a little diner. The air was warm and it felt as if nothing could go wrong.

"Why do you think he picked Chicago?" Rollin asked in a lazy tone. "What's there that he would possibly want?"

"Maybe it's a meeting place for him and his boss." I said. "If there is an antidote, chances are they have it."

"Their symptoms were less than usual." Said Owen. " Fevers of 112*, weak lungs and their musculatory sytems almost shut down completely. Imagine if the mortals got this."

"maybe he was trying to test it out on demigod before trying it on mortals." I asked.

"But then why are you two not sick?" Rollin said,slightly frustrated. "Why spare every other camper except those in the Hermes and minor gods? It just doesn't add up."

All of our guesswork and theories came to nothing and just left us unmotivated. But we soon left the shop to get another cab. However, no cabbie was willing to take a group of minors over 250 miles. I was beginning to wonder if my Dad's blessing would really work. Wasn't he the patron of travelers ?

Just then, a sleek black Nissan parked near the sidewalk that we were standing on. Rolling down the window was a lady with dark flowing hair. She was wearing a blue blouse , jeans and had on dark suglasses. She was talking on her cellphone.

"Hephaestus, I've already TOLD you." She was saying. "I will _not_ have such a vile message sent to her. It's rude! I don't care how selfish she is!"

She hung up the phone and grinned, acting as if the phone conversation had never happened. "Hey, I'm Iris, the other messenger of the gods and goddess of the rainbows." She said it so plainly and easily, as if she didn't have a care in the world. When she took off the sunglasses, I noticed that her eyes were a sort of …mulit-colored. It scared me a little, but I didn't show it.

"Don't just stand there. Come in."

We quickly filed car was air conditioned,tv, telephone and even had a mini-fridge.

" The past few days have been rough, haven't they?' she asked.

"Sort of." We all murmered .

" It was your dad who asked me to come here,Tara." She said, as if knowing what I was thinking. "He didn't want you to think he was abandoning you."

_He _was_ watching._ I thought.

"I can take you as far as Gary,Indiana, but after that I've got to go. We aren't allowed to meddle in a heroe's quest _that_ much." She began. " Oh, I've called your parents to make sure they know where you are."

My soda flew out of my mouth as soon as I heard her say that. I must have been the dumbest person alive. I hadn't been home in over a month and didn't think to call home?

Owen must've been thinking the same thing because he banged his head on the back of his seat while saying,"Stupid,stupid,stupid!" Rollin just looked at us and sighed.

"Don't worry. They know you're safe and everything. Didn't seem very concerned …"

I rolled my eyes. Nothing concerned my mother very much.

A few minutes later we were in Indiana. Iris gave us free use of the Iris-message for a week and dropped us off. Then her and her car disappeared in a flash of colors.

"No wonder we got here so fast." Rollin murmered. " I wonder if you could do that, but with trees…"

I looked around at the town. It was sort of suburban and there weren't too many cab services. I looked at the map and decided to just take a ferry on Lake Michgan. There would be a less likely chance of encountering monsters. We walked for a good thirty minutes before we got to the ferry station. It was pretty large and there weren't many people. I noticed Owen but a hand to his blade, as if he was anticipating something.

We paid the fare and sat by the railing. The water was almost as clear as glass, but becme choppy when a boat went by. It was still pretty early, so the sun was just up. As we drifted away from the dock, I looked over at Owen and Rollin. The satyr was minding his own business, chewing o a piece of tin foil ( I didn't bother to ask him where he got it from). Owen was just looking out at the water, a faraway look in his eye.

"Where's your head, Owen?' I asked.

He jumped up at once as if he had been sleeping with his eyes open and was starled awake. "Just daydreaming. What about you?"

"I was thinking about camp." I replied, suddenly feeling amore depressed than usual. " I just hope that no one's…"

"They'll be fine." He said. " Zeus asked my…dad to help the campers get some sleep. He says they've been in pain most of the time."

I should have been thinking about the campers' pain, but something didn't quite fit. " How could he have told you that? We just left yesterday."

"Oh, right." He said. " he just told me a few seconds ago. That's why I had that daydreaming look on my face."

All I could do was stare. How could his dad just go into his mind like that?

"That's..interesting." I said. " Remember that day when…you know."

He tensed a little and the relaxed, nodding his head.

" That's how I remembered that I had placed a tracker on him." I said. "Because of when I used the cellphone and we were attack-"

"Excuse me." said a voice from behind me. It was so close, I almost pulled my switchblade out and turned around to see a was a tall teenage boy, probably fourteen or fifteen. He had short dark hair, icy blu eyes…and was surprisingly muscular. He wore a blue sleeveless with shorts and had a curious smile on his face , as if he knew something I didn't.

"I'm Kade Mason." He said, smiling. Wow, he really has a nice smile. "I work here on the weekends. If you need anything : food, entertainment…CPR, I'm here for you."

"Thanks." I said, blushing a little. " Do you live in Chicago ?"

" Actually, I live on the boat." He said a little hesitantly.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I never knew my parents and moved from one foster home to another. They found me in some dump near Newark in Jersey." He said matter-of-factly. " I got tired of it. Who wants to be a ward of the state? I ran away, hoping to get to some big city, like New York or maybe Canada. But Rex, the owner, took me in."

By now, his eyes were examining me. They were so curious… and kind of cute.

_Please don't tell me you're falling for some guy you hardly know._ A voice in my head said.

"You ever run into the police?" said Owen a little sharply. He had been so quiet that I had thought he had left by now. I nudged him with an elbow.

"That's rude."

" It's alright." He replied. But I could sense the anger in his voice. By now he was staring over my head, right at Owen.

" I just think it's a bit weird, that's all." Said Owen. " A teenager living on a boat with no parents. Seems likely that he'd have some kind of record."

Was he really saying this?

"Owen, what is your problem?" I asked angrily.

"Are you calling me a criminal?" Kade said, moving a little closer. Because Owen refused to move backwards, the space between the three of us was small. But I have to admit, it _ was_ pretty comfy.

"Maybe you should go back to greeting tourist or something. That's your job isn't it?" Owen seethed.

" Maybe we should all sit down and talk." I said, a little frightened.

Just then, Rollin ran over to us. I had never been so happy to see him. But then I saw the look on his face. He looked at us with a confused expression on his face before blurting out, "We've got company."

Owen and I looked at each other before ten telekhines leaped over the railing and snarled. They had scaly faces like dogs, but with webbed feet and huge fangs. I swear. You could've made a carving knife with those teeth.

The three of us drew our weapons. People were screaming with terror and had scrambled under chairs, cowering with fear. I couldn't blame them. I looked to my side, expecting to see Gavin under a chair or something. But I got the surprise of my life when I saw him holding long sword, jagged around the edges., with a dark blue hilt. He was shaking a little, with a wild look in his eyes.

"You're a half-blood?" the three of us exclaimed.

" What?"

"KILL THEM ALL!" roared the biggest telekhine.

The telekhines charged, a large mass of scaly, wet and disgusting smeling creatures coming right towards us. Some were holding blunt axes and mallets. As they came, I brought my shield up. There was a tall one in front of me. I slid down and kicked its leg. He fell forward- and was impaled by my sword. The other was a lot harder to beat. He ( Or she. It's really hard to tell) seemed comfortable using the hammer.

He swung at my side, but I moved back just in time. It made a pretty large hole in the wall.

"Is that all you've got ?" I taunted, but every fiber of my being was telling me to shut up or else my head would end up like the wall he had smashed in. But the taunts made him angry, and anger made him reckless. I parried his every move. When he swung too hard, he spun around, and in those few seconds, I grabbed a coat and threw it in his face. While he scrambled to get it off, I stabbed him in the ribs. Hey no one ever said we had to fight fair.

Rollin had used his pipes to turn the wooden floorboards into thick, wooden spikes that impaled several of the monsters. Owen had lead two of them over the railing and Kade wasn't doing too badly himself. The telekhins actually hesitated before attacking him.

But by the time we were done, everyone else (yes, including the sailor) had fainted. We were at a loss before Kade said that he had a bit of experience controlling a ferry ( "As long as he doesn't drown us." Muttered Rollin). We made it to Chicago in silence. The surprise attack had shaken everyone and no one had the heart to speak. But could you blame us? It was our first quest.

" I'm glad to have helped." Kade said when he had docked . I felt guilty about leaving him there. I was surprised he had lasted this long. Kronos was gone and there weren't any serious danger, but no half-blood should be out on their own.

"Come with us." I blurted out loud.

"WHAT?" shouted Owen.

"You **do** know there's a reason only three people are allowed on a quest, right?" said Rollin.

"But he's a half-blood, just like us." I countered. " We can't leave him here on his own."

"Well, before that little _ incident_ he seemed to be doing fine without us!" said a frustrated Owen.

" Could someone PLEASE explain what's going on?" Kade said in an exasperated tone.

It took a whole ten minutes to explain EVERYTHING.

"This is ridiculous." I said angrily. " All in favor of Kade staying."

Only Kade and I raised our hands.

" He wasn't a original member of this quest. His vote doesn't count." Owen said. " So we win."

"That's a load of crap!" I said, finally snapping. " It was my quest, so it's my decision!"

" Yes, and you're MY friend and I don't want you getting hurt !" he said equally pissed off. " He could be the spy. Those telekhines didn't appear until after HE came along."

"Why are you acting like such an as-"

"OK!" said Kade, breaking us up. Rollin had pulled Owen away to give him time to calm down. "You guys can go on without me. I wouldn't want to put you in any harm."

"But-"

"I'll be fine." He said quietly to me. "I've made it this far on my own. Maybe I'll make it to camp. I'll see you again. That's a promise."

" You could at least stay with us at the hotel." I said. " I doubt Rex will want you back there after this."

He grinned, "If you say so."

We walked into the city and I looked down at the tracker, expecting to see the green dot near by. But it was no where in the area. I expanded the map to a broader plane. The spy had moved out of Chicago in under a few hours.

To freaking UTAH!

*********************************************

**Awww, so close, yet so far away. But I couldn't have ended the story right there, could I. No. Did yo like the new OC. he's goin to be an interesting one... I hope you liked it. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and compliments are accepted.**

**LT**


	11. Pizza Styles and Late Night Blues

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO or James bond**

Chapter Eleven Pizza Styles and the Late Night Blues

It would have been an understatement to say that I was frustrated. I almost yelled at this little kid for stepping on my foot as we got off the ferry. Not even Owen tried to say anything to me. We had come so close to finding our one suspect and had lost him-again. Now, we would have to travel another thousand miles or so to find him. And, worst of all, we were leaving Kade behind.

But he seemed determined to show us a good time before we had to go. He took us to a few museums, parks and even a movie. While Owen and Rollin were playing in the arcade, Kade and I were on a very short line, ordering the snacks.

"How did you get it?" I asked, not wanting to draw attention to us.

" You mean the sword?" he said in a lowered voice. " After I moved in with Rex, I found it on the doorstep, wrapped in this package."

" Where did you meet Rex?"

" In Jersey. It was a few weeks after I had decided to run away. I met him at a bus station." Then he laughed. " I had been trying to steal his wallet, but he caught me. Instead of calling the cops, he asked if I wanted to go with him to Chicago. I didn't have any other plan, so I went with him. He was in the ferrying business and took me with him. I've known him for a year now."

" I'm sorry about what happened. He won't kick you out, will he?" I asked concerned. I didn't want him losing his job because of us.

" It alright. That kind of thing happens all of the time." He said. " He says they're probably just a bunch of crooks, but from what you've told me…"

"Kade, you need to get to Camp Half-Blood. Honestly, I'm surprised you're still alive." I said urgently. " It isn't safe."

He frowned. " I can't just leave him. He's the only family I have. I've never met my mother or my father."

" Ok, I understand." I said a little disappointed. " But if things don't work out, you'll try to come?"

" Yesh," he said while slurping him soda. I laughed when some of it squirted onto his shirt.

We watched a James Bond movie. I had never really taken the time to watch one of them, but I was glad I did. Though, the entire time, Owen refused to talk to Kade or me. I ignored him. He didn't have the right to say those things. Having Kade next to me was the most enjoyable. We joked about the movie, talked even more and threw popcorn at the people a few rows ahead of us. He seemed like an easygoing person and did I mention he had a really nice smile? Probably did.

When the movie was over, we went out for pizza (Food from the movies can never stop your hunger). Because we were in Chicago, Rollin, who had gone on missions in Chicago, was insisting that we try their deep-dish. Aren't satyrs only allowed to eat tin?

" It's one of **the** most mouth-watering dishes ever made by humans." He said with a dreamy look in his eyes. " I think it's almost better than the New York style pizza."

I turned around quickly and flicked him in the forehead. " I don't care how delicious it looks. NOTHING beats New York style pizza. It has the perfect combination of a thin, crispy, oven baked crust, mozzarella, tomato sauce and olive oil. It doesn't have to be heaped with all of these toppings to be amazing." I said.

Owen and Kade could only look at me before they burst out in laughter, holding their sides for support. Rollin just looked dumbstruck.

" I've never seen someone get so defensive about pizza." Laughed Kade.

" At least try it." Asked Rollin.

"Fine." I mumbled. " But you're paying."

We went to a little pizza shop on this broad avenue. It had a green awning at the front, with two tables. It looked decent. We went to the counter and Kade ordered for me and even paid.

"You didn't have to." I told him while we waited.

"It's the least I could do." He said looking deep into my eyes. I couldn't help but blush.

_What the Hades is wrong with me?_ I thought.

The pizza arrived. It was a lot larger than I expected, probably three inches thick. The other three were watching me eagerly, like I was some famous food critic or something.

"You guys are going to help me eat this aren't you?" I asked.

" Yeah, but we want you to eat the first bite." Said Owen. He had tried the deep-dish before. He said it was okay.

Using the fork, I took a bite. I rolled it over in my mouth. It was good. Lots of flavor. I could taste the sauce, cheese and practically everything else. The crust wasn't as crisp, though. After I finished eating it, they all looked at me expectantly.

"Well?" asked Kade grinning. "How was it?"

" It was…good." I said.

Everyone seemed pleased, except for Rollin. "That's it? Good?" he said incredulously.

" No offense, but I'm just not used to eating such a thick pizza." I said, not wanting to cause him to have a fit. " It was a nice."

Rollin wasn't willing to let it go. While the others ate, he gave me a very long history of the deep-dish and insisted that it was better.

"Rollin, don't make me smack you." I said in a warning tone after he started talking about the texture.

" Guys, it's getting late." Said Owen after we finished eating. " We should get to a hotel."

He was right. It was a about six-thirty and though it wasn't dark enough for monsters to come out, it would still be stupid to stay out that long. We stayed at a cheap hotel near Lake Michigan.

After saying goodnight to the others, I went into my room. It was dimly lit, with a twin-sized bed and a drawer next to it. Out of the window I could see the lake. I didn't feel like Iris messaging the camp, so I just went to bed early, staring at the ceiling fan to help me doze off. But I was suddenly pulled into a dream… only I was still in my room. Next to me was Owen.

" Do you ever sleep?" I joked.

" Not really, I can do that during the day with my eyes open." He grinned.

There was a long pause between us. I never had trouble talking to him before. But now…

"I'm sorry about getting in your face about…Kade." He said his name as if it were something dirty.

" If you got to know him, there wouldn't be much of a problem." I said icily. " He's a nice guy."

" Yes, but how well do you _really_ know him?" he pressed. " We've know him a few hours and you're already friends? I'm sorry if I'm being overly protective but I don't trust him. I've never seen you so happy with someone else before. "

It took me awhile to figure out what he was really trying to say.

" Kade can't replace you, Owen." I said. He looked away blushing.

"I never said that-"

"But you meant it." I interrupted. " You are and always will be my best friend. Ok?"

He nodded and pulled me into a bear hug. " Goodness." I said. "You get more emotional than I do."

" Shut up." He muttered into my shoulder. "You're ruining the moment."

While I laughed at his behavior, the walls of the room began to shimmer and disintegrate.

" Um, Owen. What are you doing?" I asked nervously.

He looked around confused. " You're waking up."

He suddenly disappeared. I was back in my room, but sitting at the side of my bed … was Kade.

"Oh." Was all I said, but what I really wanted to say was, _Gods, does Aphrodite has something against me?_

" I was expecting something else, but that'll do." He said grinning.

" Why are you up?" I asked, fully aware that all I had on was a tank top and pajama pants.

" I'm leaving." He said sadly. My stomach dropped.

"Can't you wait until later?" I asked, trying to prolong the inevitable.

"It's almost sunrise and I need to get going." He said. He must've seen the expression on my face because he held my hand. "As soon as I explain to Rex what happened, I'll go to camp. I'll come back-for you. Is that alright?"

I nodded. He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a blue necklace, with a dark blue gem that was broken in half. It seemed to glow eerily in the dimly lit room.

" The sword wasn't the only thing I got." He explained. " I not sure why, but there's another half. I wear it."

He walked over to the door and I followed him. I pushed a hundred dollar bill into his hand.

"Just in case."

He nodded put his hand on the doorknob. Then he paused as if he was thinking.

" Kade, are you-"

I never got the chance to finish what I said because he started kissing me and for reasons unexplainable, I kissed back. The intelligent part of my mind was telling me to push him off, but I don't listen to that part a lot. The really spontaneous part (which is way more dominant) was saying, _This will probably be the last time you see him, at least for awhile. Don't stop, dammit!_ Maybe Aphrodite _was_ targeting me. She probably got tired of Percy and Annabeth (**: P). **So, I wrapped my arms around his neck and enjoyed it while it lasted.

We eventually stopped for air and disentangled ourselves. He rested his head against the door and sighed, "This stinks." All I could was hug him.

"Tara?" shouted Owen, followed by an urgent knock on the door. " What's going on?" My eyes widened.

"You need to go." I whispered, pulling him away form the door. I pointed to the window. He gave me one last longing look before lifting it open and leaning onto the tree next to it. Lucky for him, the hotel wasn't very tall.

"Don't forget me, alright?" he asked.

" I won't." And with that, he slowly scaled down the tree. In that time, the door had magically changed into a small tree and the others came leaped over it, weapons in their hand.

"What happened?" said Rollin, still half asleep. " Owen woke me up at four in the morning yelling, 'Tara's in trouble!'"

"You woke so suddenly and you never went back to sleep. I just thought…" his worried demeanor quickly changed to anger. " Where's Kade?"

"He came to say goodbye and then left." I said, suddenly blushing.

Rollin just looked at us back and forth, sighed loudly and said, " I'm going back to bed."

Owen and I were left in silence. We didn't dare to meet each other's eyes. After a minute of silence, I broke the ice.

" Look, Owen, it isn't-"

"It's fine." He said emotionlessly. "Good night."

He went out the…tree quickly, leaving me with a sinking feeling in my stomach and Kade's necklace in my hand.

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**Glad I got that done. How was it? Did it meet you expectations? I am a big fan of NY style pizza (Since I am from NYC).Oh, I would like to thank all of the people who left their reviews. It's good to know that people like it.**

**The next chapter is going to have a lot more action, so stay tuned. **


	12. Raging Bulls and Icy Silences

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO, or the Doorly Zoo, or the Rockies or the towns…whatever.**

Chapter Twelve Raging Bulls and Icy Silences

Sometimes I feel like I don't appreciate Rollin enough. For example, he's the satyr that risked his life to bring us to camp, he was a great friend and, best of all, he always tried to keep the atmosphere friendly. I don't even remember thanking him...

Luckily for me, he chose to come on this quest. Because if he hadn't, the long silences between Owen and I would've been agonizing. Through every city that we passed, he made us take pictures. When we were in Springfield, IL, we took pictures in front of the State capitol building, Lincoln's tomb and his home. We also passed through Omaha, Nebraska and visited the Doorly Zoo.

I remember going to the Bronx Zoo when I was younger and my favorite exhibit had been the turtles and the hawks. I'm not sure if my eyes weren't as adjusted to the Mist or something, but some of the animals in this zoo were far from normal. For example, some of the Weedy Sea dragon, which was supposed to be a marine fish related to a sea horse except for the weed like projections coming out of them, were actually baby hippocami (**Did I spell that right?**). They're horses with fish tails. Then there was the monkey exhibit that had two Keropes inside , which are these gnome-like creatures who could steal the clothes off your back if you gave them enough time. One of them sneered, bearing its sharp monkey teeth and made rude had gestures at me. Everyone else laughed.

"I think it likes you." said one lady.

"Yeah, right," Rollin muttered. "Zeus turned them into monkeys as a punishment because they once deceived him. Stupid primates."

Then we looked at the exhibit for the Red River hogs. They were supposed to be small, nocturnal animals, at least to mortals. At a first glance, they all look like a group of red, fat hogs, dozing off in the sun. But after blinking a few times, i noticed that the one lying on the rock didn't look right. The thing was _huge _and when it caught sight of us, it began to stir and growl.

" Ethiopian Forest bull." Muttered Rollin, who was keeping still in fear. "Twice the size of Greek bulls. Red fur. Skin impervious to iron and most celestial bronze weapons. And they're highly aggressive."

"That makes me feel so much better." Muttered Owen sarcastically. "Do you think it can break through the glass?"

"Let's not wait to find out." I said and turned away to leave. But before I could, I saw the bull began to ram its head into the glass. Worst of all, there was a small crack.

"Oh no." said Owen taking a few steps back. The other visitors had a look of surprise on their face. I'm not sure what they saw, but it couldn't have been pretty. The bull roared in anger after three more tries. I wanted to run, but the thought of what it would do to the mortals wouldn't leave my head. As for calling the zookeeper, he was as confused as the others were.

We slowly drew our weapons, waiting for the worst. Then with one final hit, the glass smashed, the alarm sounded and chaos broke loose.

The bull rammed a few people out of the way and headed straight for us. My heart was almost beating out of my chest.

"Split up!" I yelled. Owen went in the direction of the antelope stables on the left while Rollin and I hopped the fence and went towards the penguin exhibit. People were screaming their heads off and tripping over each other to get away. I split away from Rollin and ran to the café. But, behind me I felt the ragged breath of the bull. By now I was running as fast as I could. I zigzagged, hoping to lose it. And did I mention its breath really stinks?

How were we supposed to defeat a monster with skin that was impervious to iron _and_ celestial bronze? While I pondered this, I heard a sickening crunch behind me. I turned around to see the bull stuck in the archway, struggling to get out, and breathed a sigh of relief. Now to kill it…

I pulled out my switchblade and turned it to sword form. It was the only weapon I had, so I had to try. I fiercely snarled at me as I made a mental note to keep away its mouth. I stabbed at its shoulder blade, but the skin quickly bristled and rebounder it. Wasn't the sword also fused with adamant? I tried a few other spots but no luck. The bull soon grew restless and one of the bolts from the archway went flying.

"Tara, MOVE!" shouted Owen from a tree above me.

As soon as he said that, the bull wrenched free from the metal and I ran towards the tree Owen was in. I put my sword away and pulled myself up. After the fifth or sixth branch, I looked down. We weren't high enough for the bull to catch us, but if we lost our balance…

I scrambled up and sat on a branch, trying to think of a way out of the situation. There was no way we could leave. The bull was stalking us, waiting for the right time to strike. Rollin was nowhere to be found. He knew about most monsters and their weaknesses. I grabbed a turkey sandwich, unwrapped it and threw with all my might. It landed ten feet away from the bull, but he smelt it. He turned away from the tree, sniffing it with interest.

While it examined the food, I tried to climb down the tree as quietly as I could. Owen looked at me like I was crazy. He was probably right. But if we could get down unnoticed and wait for Rollin at the train depot, we could get out of there alive. The bull wasn't after satyrs.

With this in mind, I was almost down tree when the bull turned its head. It examined me with cruel blue-grey eyes. I froze, hanging onto the tree with one hand and my switchblade in the other.

It let out a thunderous roar before heading towards me. I tried to pull myself back up with both hands, but before I could, it rammed into me. I ended up sitting on the bull backwards with a sharp, heavy pain in my chest. I cried out as one of the bristles sliced into my left hand. Worst of all, the dumb bull was bucking wildly, causing my head to spin. Despite this, I pulled out the switchblade, held on to its fur to help me turn around, and stabbed it in the eye.

It screeched in agony (I didn't think bulls could make that sound) and threw me off into the bushes nearby. I landed into a group of bushes and stayed there. I didn't have ay more fight left in me.

" Tara!" shouted Rollin. When did he get there? I looked up to see him behind the counter of a cash register. Before I could answer. He began to play a very low tune. All of a sudden, the ground began to rumble and the dirt beneath the bull began to crack. It came loose and fell, taking the beast with it. The hole closed up as quickly as it opened.

The other two rushed over to me at once. Both were sweaty, pale and shaking.

"Are you alright?" asked Rollin. He didn't even wait for me to answer as he began to take out medical supplies. I ate a little nectar and ambrosia. I still felt dizzy and weak, but not as much as before. The food court had been deserted. After we had finished fixing our wounds we set out again for another state still shaking from the encounter.

We hitched a ride with a bunch of adults who were on their way to some reunion in Sidney and passed the Sand Hills, a mixed grass prairie with sand dunes over 330 feet tall. It was all we saw before they dropped us off in Sidney. A few minutes after arrival, another van (actually it was a UPS truck) pulls up next to us on the sidewalk and just opened the truck. I could tell that my dad had sent them because I recognized the driver. He had been following me on my first day of school. He had black straight hair and pale watery eyes. But his smile was warm and welcoming.

He didn't say anything, but the way he was driving, I thought we were bound to get pulled over. But the other cars seemed to be going a lot slower than the one we were in. It was almost like flying.

We made it to Boulder, Colorado by seven at night. It looked like a nice city. There were a lot of trees, a cool breeze and the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

"Amazing." I muttered. It was always my dream to travel all over the world and see all the sites. This was the closest I had ever gotten.

The man (actually, they're called Vanishers) handed me a heavy bag. With one final wave, he drove off. In the blink of an eye, he was already on the highway. I opened the bag. Inside were a bag of drachmas and rolls of mortal cash. I grinned. Having a father who's the god of commerce has its perks. Then we went to a store that sold tents and other equipment.

"Why exactly are we buying these again?" asked Rollin.

"Because we're going over the Rockies to get to Salt Lake City." I said simply.

They looked at me with wide eyes. "Tara, we can't just go trekking up some mountain-"

"What about an airport?" interrupted Owen. " Not everyone can climb rocks as well as you can."

I frowned. The first civilized words he says to me all day and they're negative. " I don't know if you two have noticed but it's been two days and the target is over 300 miles away. If you see any airports on the map, feel free to tell me. And if we _do _take a plane, what if there are monsters like the bull? We can't just jump out! I am **not** traveling by river, at least not for the entire trip, so that's out of the question. We can stay on the normal hiking trail until night and then camp out. Take it or leave it."

I waited for their reactions, expecting them to walk out on me. Instead they took their bags and got their hiking gear on. We followed the normal hiking path until we reached a town called Kremmling. They even lent us a small canoe (I used my dad's cloak to make me look like an adult so they'd be less suspicious). When it was too dark out to see, we set up camp. The guys shared one tent and I got one for myself. I still couldn't believe we were on the Rockies. It was an amazing view from the peak. There was still some snow in a few places, but that didn't worry us because it was summer, after all.

But it should have.

It had been after we had eaten a quick meal and went to our tents that I felt it. Even when I tried going to sleep, the feeling of foreboding wouldn't go away. It was when the temperature in the tent began to drop tremendously and the ground started to shake that I knew we were in trouble.

I silently peered through a hole in the tent and my jaw dropped. They were almost fourteen feet tall, bulky figures, white hair and icy blue skin.

We had camped in the middle of a colony of Hyperborean Giants.

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**At last, chapter twelve! I promised you that there would be action. Did I do well? Feel free to leave your comments. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading.**

**LT**


	13. In Which Things Change

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Wish I did...**

Chapter Thirteen In Which Things Change

I cursed as I saw one of the giants come close to Owen and Rollin's tent. He inspected it closely. Anywhere they walked, the ground became coated in ice and snow. Something told me that the others were aware that something was wrong. There were three of them, all encircling their tent. I had camped a bit farther away (yes, I was still mad at Owen). Without making a sound I ripped a hole in the back of my tent and went through it.

I shifted through my book bag to find something to help. There was no way I could take on those giants. We were in their territory, which meant that they could throw all the snow they wanted and blend in just as easily. I pulled out the cloak and necklace, eyeing them carefully. A plan popped into my head.

From my hiding place behind a mound of rock, I looked at the sky. It was around three in the morning. I pull on the cloak and put the necklace on. At once, I changed into the first giant that I had seen. It took a while to get used to the body. It was like trying to walk with a bag full of heavy textbooks. I looked back at the tent from my hiding place. The giants had begun to poke and prod at it. I heard Rollin yelp from the inside.

"Half-bloods." One of the older ones said. It sounded like a ton of rocks were tumbling down a mountain. "You think we can eat them?"

The shorter giant nodded and grinned to reveal several rows of crusty teeth. They got ready to smash the tent when I appeared from behind the rock.

" Leave them alone." I said. My voice sounded a lot deeper, like ice grinding against rocks. They looked at me curiously. From the things I had learned in Monster Assault Techniques, I knew that these giants had been peaceful before the war. They said something about stabbing it in the foot…

"What?" asked the older one. " Why are you in two places at once?"

I cursed silently. I was hoping they'd be dumb enough not to realize that. The shorter giant just stared. I stared back. If I could distract them long enough, maybe Rollin and Owen could get away.

But my hopes went away as soon as the youngest giant picked Rollin up. He yelped and tried to hit its arm. Owen drew his sword at once and slashed at its ankle, the only spot he could reach without jumping. It roared out and kicked Owen into a pile of snow. He didn't move.

"NO!" I shouted and without thinking headed towards the giant that was still holding Rollin. I rammed my fist into its nose and something blue began to trickle out. He staggered, dropped Rollin and tripped over the edge.

" What have you done!" yelled the oldest in anger. "I'll kill you. I'll KILL you!"

The other two charged towards me and the fact that I was on my own didn't help much either. Rollin was just lying there, stunned and Owen was…

I didn't get any more time to think as one of them tackled me. I yanked it by the hair and smacked its head into the side of a large boulder a few times. He crumpled to the floor. Then the other threw a snowball the size of a truck into my chest. It knocked the wind right out of me as blown backwards by the force of it. Stars flew in front of me as a sharp pain exploded in the back of my head. It was then that I remembered when the dracaenas had attacked us at school. I had been in a similar situation then. But if I had survived that, I could survive this.

With this in mind, I felt for my sword. It felt like a toothpick in my hand. As the second giant threw another snowball, I moved to the side, missing it by inches. My entire body was aching, both my friends were incapacitated and I still had one more monster to beat. Tired of throwing snow at me, it lunged forward and grabbed my shoulders. I fought it off, kicking, biting anything. Sure, it wasn't the classiest way to fight, but **you** try to fight giant when you're head is spinning. I might have even broken its jaw, because the sword was feeling clumsy and insignificant in my hand.

My strength began to wane and the cold weather began to get to me. In blind fury, the giant picked me up while I was still gripping its hair. As it stumbled to the edge, I took the sword and shoved it into the side of its head just as it threw me over the side. For a moment, I was suspended in the air and had the satisfaction of seeing the giant screech in agony as it turned into ice. But I saw Rollin his face contorted in horror as gravity returned and I fell, the ground getting closer and closer by the second…

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When I awoke, or at least I thought I did, I was hiding behind a cylinder filled with a glowing, slow-moving liquid. It was orange- just like the liquid in the bomb. As I looked around, I realized I was in a laboratory. There were computers wired to a circular generator in the ceiling…, which looked like the inside of a mountain. People in lab coats were rushing back and forth, with vials and test tubes in their hands.

Watching the progress from an observation window was a man whose face was shadowed. Next to him was someone I recognized immediately.

The spy. But instead of wearing all black, he wore a green sleeveless shirt, black jeans and a sword at his hip. He looked about seventeen, with short chestnut brown hair with grey, almost silver, eyes.

"You're sure she followed you." The man said in a calming voice. He didn't sound evil.

"She placed a tracker on Cyrus." He replied. " She's quite crafty. Instead of actually fighting me, she caused a scene. I would've been caught if I stayed any longer."

" That's the reason I chose her." The man said. "She's practically new to it. She'll be more open minded."

My jaw dropped. How had he known about the tracker? And why did they make it sound like they were leading me on?

_Maybe because they are_ said a voice in my head.

"Are you sure she can do this?" asked the spy, a little worried. "With the entire camp and almost the all of the Olympians against her…"

"She's a lot more persuading than you give her credit for, Darius." He replied. " Reminds me of Luke…. maybe she can get them to keep their word."

What did Luke have to do with this? The questions were spinning in my head faster than I could count them. I had never felt so hopeless before. To make matters worse, the image began to dissolve as soon as I saw them look in my direction.

In the next dream, it was so dark outside; I could barely see my hand. I was behind a large trashcan and it was raining heavily. A large hellhound was snarling at a figure in the end of an alley. It let out a vicious shout and the hellhound went reeling, clutching its nose in agony. The figure, another teenager, came from the shadows. His shirt had a claw mark going through it and there was a gash on his arm. My heart leaped.

It was Kade.

He was sweating and must've been in worse shape than I was. But he fought with such ferocity that he almost took the hound's head off. Instead it sunk into its neck and exploded in golden dust. He leaned against the side of a building, clutching his bag and sword close to him as he panted heavily. We had left him for a day and he was already being attacked.

The water dripped from his hair as he pulled the necklace form under his shirt. It cast and warm, blue glow in the darkness. He looked at it thoughtfully.

"Tara."

Just then a pair of glowing red eyes appeared from a shop window. I didn't care if he could hear me or not.

"KADE!" I shouted. He looked up startled and his eyes fell on the glowing eyes in the shop window. He grimaced and pulled out sword. He tucked the necklace into his shirt and stood up.

" I promised I'd make it." He muttered out of breath, more to himself than the monster. Then the image dissipated.

"No!" I said, more frustrated and hopeless than before. "Gods dammit!"

I was about to kick something when I finally realized where I was. The ground was an unusual black color. The place was dark, uninviting and depressing. It was only when I saw the black, slow-moving river that I knew. There was only one river that could look like that.

"Holy Styx." I cursed.

I was dead.

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**Bet you didn't see that one coming. I thought long and hard about whether I should do this, but it'll work out in the end. You'll see. Read on.. and leave a review if you want to. Thanks for reading.**

**LT**


	14. There and Back Again

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO**

Chapter Fourteen There and Back Again

You wouldn't believe the string of curse words that came out of my mouth. If my mother had been there… I couldn't understand how I had gotten there, but then I remembered.

_You were thrown from the Rockies and plummeted two thousand feet to your death._ I thought sarcastically.

After hours of trying to figure out what happened, I gave up and joined the line. I had accepted defeat. I had let everyone else down. Why? Because I let myself get thrown off the side of a mountain because I was too stubborn to take a plane. The thought of what would happen to Owen, Kade and everyone else sunk me deeper into despair. I paid for the trip across the river. The entire time, Charon kept looking at me funnily.

"What?" I snapped. He looked taken aback.

"It's nothing." He muttered. " It's just that you don't…look right."

"What do you mean I don't look right?" I fumed. "I'm DEAD. Of course I'm going to look funny."

"No you don't understand-" before he could finish, we were on the other side and I quickly got off. I just wanted to get this over with. As I reached the main gate, I took a look at Cerberus. He was a large, black, three-headed hellhound that sniffed and snarled at anything it saw. At the E-Z Death pass, the skeleton looked at me a few times before saying, "What was the cause of your death?"

"Fell off a mountain." I said blushing with embarrassment. He took out a file and read it.

"Oh, a very important quest, I see. Hades won't be happy about this. Alright, carry on."

I was about to pass through the gate when Cerberus snarled at me furiously. He tugged against the long leash that stretched from the right of the wall to where it was now. I saw the acid fly out of its mouth and I ducked.

" What's wrong with you?" I muttered while moving away from. I felt my pocket for Kleftis. It was there.

I passed through and one of the skeletal guides pointed me towards the Judgment Pavilion. That was weird. I thought I would end up in the Fields of Asphodel. But this line was much shorter, probably only ten people. Soon it was my turn. The man with the triangular beard, armor and Spartan shield was King Leonidas (**a/n: 300 is one of my favorite movies! Liked it more than Troy**). The woman with the hunting bow, dark hair and eyes must have been Atalanta. The last judge looked a little worn out, though he was young, with salt and pepper hair, warm brown eyes and…wait a minute.

"DAD!" I shout at the sudden realization. He looks as if he was asleep and I'd startled him awake. He looks at me with shock on his face. The shock of seeing him and in the Underworld of all places was so overwhelming that I actually went over and hugged him tightly.

"Why are here?" he asked horrified. " You can't be… no. How?"

I explained quickly and I had never seen him so devastated.

"But why are you judging the dead?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I help Hades ferry dead souls here, so he owes me. And I'm hiding from Zeus" he explained. "He even gave me a place to stay. We're practically on the same boat, since he isn't welcome on Olympus either. But I guess I'll be here for a while longer…"

"No." I said, suddenly frantic. " I can't stay. I NEED to get back. Owen and Rollin are still on the Rockies. The camp is still sick. You're down here. And Kade is-"

"Who the Hades is Kade?" he said, suddenly angry.

My face flushed as I stuttered to come up with an answer. " He's a friend we met along the way. Look, that's not the point. A bunch of people are counting on me. Maybe I could ask Hades-"

"Lord Hermes, you're assistance is needed." Said Atalanta, a little annoyed. He narrowed his eyes at her.

" I need a minute." He said in a low voice. Then he turned to me. "Alright. Hang on."

All of a sudden, he grabbed my arms and we were lifted from the ground. We flew past the Isle of the Blest and came through a window into Hades' palace. It was a large castle, built of obsidian and skeleton bones. He took me straight to his throne room, waving away the guards. We saw him, talking quietly with a girl that looked a lot like Nico.

He wore these dark robes, made of tortured souls (believe me: I could see some of their faces) and his skin was pale. His eyes were as black as night and his demeanor was cold. As soon as he caught sight of me, his eyes narrowed.

"This is your daughter, I presume." He said to father. He quickly told Hades what happened and he frowned.

"But she isn't dead, at least not completely." He said.

"….What?" I asked.

" You aren't _completely_ dead." He said. " Don't ask why. I can just tell. I'm surprised Cerberus didn't rip you to shreds."

I winced as I remembered the dog bearing its kitchen knife sized teeth at me.

"You're in a sort of…suspended animation or maybe a coma. Either one." he mused. " It could be that because you fell from such heights and the cold temperature. You are dying, but not dead yet."

I looked at myself closely. I was almost as pale as Bianca, but I was a noticeable darker shade.

"So do I wait to wake up or…" I paused. Something told me I wasn't going to make it back.

"Since your soul and body are in two different places, I guess I could… no. That would get me in trouble." He thought aloud.

"What?" asked my father eagerly. "We'll do anything. As long as she gets back alright."

Hades sighs, "Alright. Let me get it first."

"Could I talk to Luke?" I blurted out. Why do I keep doing that? Everyone just sort of froze and stared at me.

"It's just, I think he could help me with something." The god of the dead just shrugged and barked at one of his warriors to bring him. I looked at my dad. He seemed a little uncomfortable.

" You are ok with this right?" I asked hesitantly. He merely nodded. A few minutes later, Luke came through the door, escorted by two skeletal warriors, like they were expecting him to try and make a break for it.

He looked exactly how everyone said he did. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Though he looked transparent, if he had been alive he would've looked a lot healthier, even with that scar on his face. I struggled to figure out the right thing to say. What? I didn't plan it through. He began to study me intently and then smiled.

"You're Tara, right?" he asked questioningly. " Dad hasn't stopped worrying about you."

"And for good reason." He mumbled.

"So why did you ask for me?"

I told him about the quest and the dreams…well, no the one about Kade.

"An airborne disease targeted at half-bloods." He thought aloud. " That's a plan worthy of Athena, though I doubt she'd do something like this. The Titans have scattered like the wind, so there's almost no chance there. Speaking of half bloods what's camp like?"

" It's cool." I shrugged. "There are lots of cabins. My best friend was…is a son of Morpheus."

He chuckled. " So he kept his promise. Good."

Then something clicked in my brain. "What did you say?"

" I said he kept his –"

" It's time." Said Hades, reappearing. In his hand, he held a blade, but it was different. The hilt was a skull and the blade itself was four feet long, obsidian and radiated death. I shivered and moved back a step or two. Hermes' eyes widened.

"Is that the Sword of Hades?"

He nodded. I saw Luke stare at it, mystified.

" With one touch, it can send a soul into the Underworld, or send them back up." he explained. "Right now, you're in a dying state. But with a small touch of this sword, I can 'bring you back' .

He moved towards me. I moved back.

"Will it hurt?" I asked naively and hear Luke and dad chuckle behind me. " It isn't funny. Isn't there another way."

", I've never used it before so I'm not sure."

"You don't know how your own weapon works?" I asked, as innocently as possible so I didn't get incinerated on the spot.

"I should blow you to bits for that." he growled.

"But then Nico wouldn't get better." I pointed out quickly. Bianca's eyes widened and she looked at her father pleadingly. He gave in.

"You should do this." said Luke a little sadly. " It'll be worth seeing your friends again, trust me."

"Why don't you come back then?" I asked out of curiosity. "You deserve it, after what you did."

He pondered this. "I think I'll stay, to repay my debts. Besides, Zeus would probably electrocute me before I could get to camp. I think it's best for everyone if I stayed put for awhile."

I sighed, knowing I had lost. He raised the sword slowly.

" Oh and tell everyone I said hello." said Bianca.

"Me too." asked Luke.

I had just enough time to wave at everyone before the sword lightly tipped my shoulder and I was consumed in light. I felt an unusually weightless and suddenly very heavy. When I awoke, I found myself in a small cave with a tiny fire in the middle,wrapped in too many blankets with a cloth over my head. For a moment I thought that the sword had backfired and sent me to Tartarus. But then I looked at the opening and saw a the morning sky. For the first time in what seemed like ages, I heard birds singing and the first rays of morning light . Just like that, I was back.

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**PLZ READ**

**I know, I know, I'm going a little fast with the chapters. But I have to go somewhere tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be able to update. I wanted to get this chapter in first. I hope you liked it.**

**Oh. There will be at least three or four more chapters in this story. I will be doing a sequel and have an idea of what it will be about.**

**Thanks for reading**

**Oh. Did you like the title. I got it from The Hobbit. Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to review.**

**LT**


	15. That was Confusing

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO**

Chapter Fifteen That was Confusing

Now me, being the mischievous person that I am, couldn't resist the opportunity to scare Owen and Rollin out of their wits. I pulled myself out of the layers of blankets that had been wrapped around me and surveyed my surroundings, which was hard to do because I felt lightheaded and dizzy all over. It was a large cave. Their bags were laid in a corner in the far end of the cave. Oh, and it was cold.

I leaned out of the cave to see where we were exactly. There was a snowy path, just large enough to walk across. On the other side, I could see Owen and Rollin sending an Iris message. They looked distraught, and I was a little surprised to see tears in Rollin's eyes. Suddenly the urge to prank them didn't seem very great anymore. Instead, I waited in the darkest corner of the cave.

All of the events of the past week seemed to come flooding back. I had Zeus knows how many days to find the spy who, apparently, was leading me into some sort of trap, we weren't any closer to finding him than we were before and ,even worse, Kade was practically fighting for his life and all I could do was watch. Oh, that and we were going to end up n Tartarus if we failed (Which was highly likely at this point) and the lives of all of the campers were in danger. Could my day have gotten much worse? Probably not.

As I sat while playing with my switchblade, I heard voices further up ahead.

" Where the Hades is she?" I heard Owen shout in panic. Despite my current situation, the looks of horror on their faces were hilarious. I fought to stop the laughter. Rollin had really good hearing.

"You said she stopped breathing!" roared Owen. "For all we know she's got amnesia and fell off the fricking cliff again! Why didn't you watch her?"

"Stop **shaking** me!" the satyr retorted, smacking him over the head with his reed pipes. "You said she wasn't in a coma – that you couldn't feel a pulse! How was I supposed to know-"

"You should've known. Oh, gods. I shouldn't have- all my fault." Owen said in a cracked voice.

I have to admit. I felt really bad about. I'd never seen him that distressed before. So instead of waiting it out, like I'd planned, I just walked out of corner, but not quickly, because I didn't want to end up giving them a heart attack, or something. When Rollin saw me, his red eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. His mouth dropped as Owen stared, looking pale and rigid.

"It's her ghost." I heard Rollin whisper. "It's back to punish us because... it's our fault she died..."

"…Ghosts don't bite, do they?" Owen asked. I almost laughed, but then I saw his expression flicker to one of curiosity. "Wait. She's starting to…"

I looked down at my hands and what I saw made me swear. My hands were _there_, but it was like I was seeing doubles. It was almost like my soul was trying to fit in my body, if that makes any sense. I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. After a few seconds, the double began to disappear and I felt…heavier.

"It worked!" I shouted and literally jump for joy. The others just stare at me in confused fascination. "I'm not dead."

"But, but… your pulse. I could barely-" stuttered Rollin.

"Tara?" Owen asked in an unsure voice. He sounded hoarse, like he'd either had a really bad cold or had been crying for a while, the latter being more likely. He was about to step towards me, but seemed to think better of it. I thought about what I had felt about of him before I ….'died'. Anger. Annoyance. Never hate. None of it was there now. I was just glad to have my friend back.

"That's me." I said with a small smile. And that did it. The both sprinted towards me and before I knew it, I was crushed with hugs and on the floor.

" I can't believe it. You're back!" shouted Rollin, sounded happier than he had in a while. But Owen said nothing. He just kept hugging me and, in a way, that was all I needed from him.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"How long have I been out?" I asked as we sat around the small fire and ate. It threw strange shadows across the dark cave walls, but it didn't seem to bother anyone. We were safe, at least for a little while.

" You've been out for three days, which means today is…Friday. " said Rollin glumly. "We've got one day left."

"Jeez, I must have been on that EZ Death line longer than I thought..."

My stomach fell at the news. We weren't going to make it. After all of that hard work and effort, me, Owen, our siblings and our parents were going to suffer in Tartarus for an eternity. I shuddered at what our punishment would be, and my only regret would've been that I had left Kade to die. I thought about this as I gazed into the flames. It seemed to be the only thing that was giving any warmth or comfort. But then the flames flickered to reveal images- just like when I had died.

_Not again_ I thought miserably.

The first image was of a blonde haired guy, around twenty years of age, with blue eyes. He wasn't looking too good. There was blood all over a marble white floor that could've only been in one place- Olympus. Kneeling beside the dying man were people I had seen at camp- Percy, Annabeth and Grover.

"What the Hades?" I said confused. Owen looked up at me alarmed.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't… don't you see it?" I asked amazed. They both shook their heads.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard?" asked Rollin.

"Too hard?" Owen said incredulously. "She must've fallen over a hundred feet! Let's throw you off of a mountain and see how you act."

But I ignored them, focusing on the images flickering in the flames. Now they were _ talking._

"_Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it… Don't let it happen again."_

"_I won't. I promise."_

When he spoke, I realized that it was Luke dying, when he was on Olympus. I didn't know the full story of his death. No one at camp had wanted to talk about it. To make it less helpful, the images stopped, and the flames leapt twenty feet in the air. Rollin yelped as he toppled over in fear.

"Didn't you see it?" I asked again. "I saw Luke and Percy and he was… he was dying…"

"I think you should get some rest Tara." Owen said. I sighed in defeat and retreated to the sleeping bag. It was around nine thirty and the sky was darkening. I wasn't sure if Zeus himself was going to drag us down to Tartarus, but I didn't want to find out. As the others dozed off, I continued to play with my switchblade, constantly changing it into sword form. It seemed useless now. There was no way we could make it all the way to…Wyoming Peak, as the tracker had shown. For once, I looked closely at the blade, just for the heck of it. It was celestial bronze, but when I looked a little closer, I noticed Greek letters etched on the flat side of the blade.

My Greek is pretty bad, so after an hour of trying to figure it out, I came up with, _ The best escapes are found it the Dark_.

As if things weren't confusing enough.

I felt like throwing the sword across the cave, but then thought better of it. I got up and walked around, pondering the riddle. Maybe the gods were toying with me on purpose, which would've been stupid because they needed me to save their kids. I went to the edge of the cave and tried to keep my balance. The moon was full and shined like a beacon in the night. It seemed to glare into my eyes and I had to put the sword in front of me . Then I noticed the sword: It was glowing.

"What?"

I waved it around to se what happened. It still glowed an unearthly grey- just like the moon. The message on the sword came back to me.

"I wonder…"

I began to walk around the cave with the sword out in front of me. In some places, it dimmed and in others it flickered. I stood near the back of the cave where I had hidden earlier and put the sword to the cave wall. By now it was shining so much, my eyes watered. But I knew the sword was trying to tell me something. I felt along the crevices for a hole. I found on near the bottom and pushed my hand further. I thought it was a dead end before I pushed something and heard a click. Then the wall pushed backwards and slid to the side. There was a large, dark corridor ahead.

"Holy crap." I muttered. Without wasting time I woke the others, using any means necessary to get them up.

"You didn't have to hit me in the face!" grumbled Rollin as he struggled to remove the snow from his hair and mouth. I quickly told them what I'd found and they looked at me skeptically.

"Tara, it could be a trap for all we know." Said Owen. "I don't think it's possible this could lead us to him."

_But we _are_ going to end up in a trap._ I thought as the visions of the men in the lab came back. But it was either this or waiting until we were hit by Zeus' master bolt.

" If I could come back from the dead, then this could be our way out." I said pleadingly. " I'm still not sure about what we'll do when we get there, but it's better than just staying here."

They both looked at each other before sighing and gathering their things. They put out the fire and joined me at the entrance.

"Let's go."

With that, we descended into the hole, not really sure what we were up against.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The descent was dark, cold and depressing and all we had were the light of our swords to guide us. It almost felt like being back in Hades again, which wasn't a very comforting thought. We all huddled together, a little creeped out by the awkward noises coming from the walls.

"So.. how was it?" Owen asked, trying to make conversation. But something told me he was trying to apologize.

"What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Being in Hades?"

"Yeah." asked Rollin, a little interested.

"Oh...well... It was dark and depressing." I muttered, not really ready to talk about it. "Cerberus almost ripped me to pieces."

"Oh..."

After a while, the conversation died down again. I kind of expected it. By now, we were just trying to fight for our lives. If we made it out of this mess, we could talk later.

We had to make a few turns before we came to a solid wall. I had been wondering where this passage had come from and how the sword had found it. Could it track secret routes wherever I went, or could it only be used once? And if it was sign from the gods, would it really lead us to this spy?

"Oh- I know what to do!" yelled Rollin, interrupting my train of thought. He pulled out his reed pipes and began to play a something that sounded a lot like Linkin Park. Suddenly, the rock wall split open. At first, we thought it was a another dark hall leading to who knew where. But as we began to walk down the passage, there was an inhumane screech so terrible that my ears started to ring. Farther up ahead was a very large eagle. It's feather's were an off white and they didn't look normal. They were more like ... sharp knives. You're probably thinking since there was only one, it would be easy. But this thing was so tall, I saw it's head scrape ceiling- and this was while it was flying towards us. Its dark beady eyes bore into ours with complete malice.

"What the Hades is _that_ doing _here_?" exclaimed Rollin in amazement. I didn't really see the big deal. It was a bird and it was ready to rip our heads off. End of story.

We all pulled out our weapons as it got ready to dive bomb towards us. We all dodged and I tried to take a swing at it. The sword barely got through the feathers before it bounced off. I rolled over and brought my shield up, just in case. Rollin was playing some slow tune. The bird drooped its eyes long enough for Owen to go in for the strike, but its eyes flared and it tore a large gash in his armor.

"This thing is smart, for a bird." I muttered as I realized it was trying to bait us. I had never heard of an eagle like this. Not in Greek Mythology or anywhere else. I quickly pulled on the winged shoes dad had given to me. The cave ceiling was a little low, but it would do. I felt myself levitate and I was able to meet the eagle in the eyes. It studied me with interest before trying to take a bite out of my neck. I swerved out of the way and hit it in the face with my shield. It flew backwards, but soon turned around and went at me at lighting speed. This time it got the side of my arm and I winced as its razor sharp feathers left a small cut in my skin. After a few more close calls, I came to a very startling conclusion: We couldn't kill this bird.

It was moving way too fast for any of us to get a direct hit. We didn't have and bow and arrows. I lowered to the ground. I thought that if I could get it to dive into the wall, it would fall unconscious. I tried it, but when I moved to the side, it did the same. Before it could impale me in the stomach, I lashed out with my foot. I flew back over to Owen and Rollin, who had cuts and scratches all over. We looked pretty useless.

"Any idea what to do?" I asked while watching the eagle closely. It was doing the same.

"I say we make a break for it." muttered Rollin, nursing a bruise on the side of his face. But then I noticed Owen fidgeting with his shield. I got dizzy just looking at it. Then an idea hit me.

"Your shield!" I said. They looked at me confused and then Owen realized what I was thinking. We both grabbed Rollin as we charged towards eagle, hiding as much as we could behind his shield. The eagle looked at us with contempt before heading towards us. Instead of feeling collision, I heard a large THUMP as the eagle fell to the ground, unconscious.

"How long will it last?" I asked Owen as he stared at the bird in amazement.

"Let's not stay to find out." he muttered and ran towards the entrance. We followed suit and we met by more dark, but there were a few dimly lit torches. We went a little faster now out of fear. We made more twists and turns going downward until we I felt the temperature rise for some reason. It began to take a toll and we had to stop after half an hour. But then we came to the last thing I expected to find.

An _elevator._

_"_We walked all that way and there was an elevator?" I fumed. Owen just sighed and pushed us inside. The buttons could only go in one direction. Down. Rollin pushed the button that led to the ground floor. I looked at the tracker to see where we were and where the target was. Somehow, we had gotten to Wyoming Peak in just under a few hours. And the target was on the same floor that we were headed. I told the others and we all drew our weapons. It looked like the fight wasn't over yet.

When the elevator stopped, and we ran into a domed lab, just like the one in my dream. I knew at once that we had made it. There were lab workers running around. But they didn't look right. They seemed lifeless and looked like crash dummies. They didn't have eyes or mouths. Luckily for us, they hadn't spotted us yet.

"Are you sure we went the right way?" asked Owen without moving his mouth too much. He looked nervous. The tracker showed told me he was close, but I couldn't see him.

"Yeah." I whispered.

And then one of the dummies turned around. It stopped, dropped the files in its hand and began to run towards us. The others followed suit and soon there was an army heading our way. When he first one came too close, I hacked the head off. Thankfully, nothing came out. But instead of disintegrating, they'd turn into clay and then reform. But that didn't stop us. We kicked, punched and charged through the group until we were standing on top of a test table. To make matters worse, they started throwing fire at us. That was just odd. What god had the power to do that?

But then it struck me: Not a god... but maybe a Titan.

Before I could tell the others, I felt the table beneath us rise and then shake. We all fell off. Surrounding us were the dummies (Seriously, I couldn't call them humans). I got that squeezing feeling in my chest when I made a barrier that knocked most of them backwards.

"Stop." said a commanding voice. I followed it to the balcony and wasn't surprised at all to see the spy and his boss alongside him. This time I could see his face. Black hair in a ponytail, seven feet tall and a lot of tiny scratches on his face. His eyes had an inquisitive gleam to it that made me nervous. Then I remembered who he was.

It was Prometheus, the Titan of forethought and crafty counsel.

********************************************************

**Wow, I've done fifteen chapter (this being one of the longest). I can't believe this story is almost coming to a close. But it'll be a good finale, believe me. Thanks for reading.**

**LT**


	16. Negotiations

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO.**

**This chapter is a bit long, as you can see. But try and read everything so you'll understand. Thanks : )**

Chapter Sixteen Negotiations

Believe me, I was just as confused as you were. He just stood there, as still as stone, wearing a black tuxedo. Next to him, the spy, or Darius as he had been called in the dream, eyeing us disdainfully. All of the dummies went back to work and acted as if nothing had happened. We all looked at each other nervously before directing our weapons in his direction.

"So you've made it." He said a little surprised. "Well done."

"Wait. Time out." Said Owen confused. "You were _expecting_ us?"

Prometheus raised an eyebrow at him. "She didn't tell you about her dream?"

Rollin and Owen looked at me in disbelief. "You knew…" he said disbelievingly.

"Why would you…lead us into a trap?" asked Rollin. They probably felt like I'd betrayed them. Though I couldn't really blame them.

"I wasn't sure if it was real or not." I said. " And either way, this was our only lead. It was either we came here or nothing at all."

"She's right." Prometheus continued. "It was all for the best-"

"All for the best?" yelled Owen indignantly. " You call hurting demigods all for the best? You couldn't get to the gods themselves, so you took your anger out on them!"

This made him turn towards Owen. His eyes showed no emotion. "Leave."

At first, I thought he was talking to us, but then I saw his minions file out of the room. He came down the stairs with Darius close behind him. That was funny. I half expected him to teleport. A table with five chairs suddenly appeared in front of us and we all sat down.

"If I wanted to take my anger out on the demigods, why are you and Tara here and not at camp sick?" he asked coolly. Owen looked away, embarrassed about his outburst. "I thought so. But you are right. I go after the things the gods care about most- or claim to."

"But why'd you spare them?" Rollin asked, finally getting the courage to speak up.

" I've always admired the children of Hermes, especially Luke. Of course, history will never give them much credit, but they're crafty and resourceful. That's something we've got in common. Being the Titan of forethought, I knew you'd come, so I had to make sure you didn't get sick. As for the children of the minor gods… they've never done anything wrong. Even though they'll be called guilty, whether they like it or not."

I was still confused. "So you weren't really in this for revenge, but something else?"

He nodded and then turned to Owen and Rollin. "If you two don't mind, I would like to talk with Tara in private."

"Yeah, like we're really going to leave you with-Hey!" suddenly, they were grabbed by two of the workers and hoisted into the observation room. It wasn't that bad. It had a see-through window.

"Was that really necessary?"

" This doesn't need to be known by them." He said. When Darius left, I started to get nervous. Under the table I was clutching my sword in case I needed to fight him. But he didn't seem like the type. If he wasn't a Titan, I would've said he was a diplomat. "You're wondering about the disease that Darius left in the forest."

"…..yeah?"

" I've been the curiosity and inventiveness for mankind since they were first made. Because I gave them fire, they were able to make new advances in technology and, with my help, they help to form the Twenty-first Century. I made this lab a few…eons ago to test certain inventions before I put them out for the world to see. The atom bomb. The printing press. Hermes and Iris helped me with the Internet, since it had to do with communication."

"Seriously?" I said in amazement.

"Yes. Where was I? Oh. So, I use new technology to create things. I developed a disease that targeted demigods of a certain parentage."

"How?" I said, completely dumfounded.

" Years of collecting DNA. Kronos' army had demigods of all kinds..."

"But why try to make all of the campers sick if it wasn't for revenge?"

"Not so much revenge as for..." He said calmly, but his eyes flashed with a smoldering anger. "Do you know what Zeus did to punish those that sided with Kronos? He went after their children."

"But that's not possible." I said a little confused. "If that was the case, then Owen wouldn't have been accepted at camp. His dad Morpheus, he…It was Luke's request wasn't it?"

Suddenly it all made sense. The visions in the flames… Percy made the Olympians swear that the children of all of the gods would be welcome at camp because Luke had asked him to. The minor gods that had sided with Kronos were forgiven. The line in the prophecy said something about an oath that I had to fulfill. Obviously it was Luke's will, but as far as I could see, Percy had already made the oath.

But those were just the gods. _The future of those that didn't prevail will be found on the rebel's trail_. Part of it made sense. The rebel must've been the spy and we followed him to find Prometheus, who I was guessing had the cure, but wouldn't give it-yet. But the first part…. Those that didn't prevail had sided with Kronos. And their futures were…

"Their kids." I muttered.

"I'm sorry, what?" he said, as if straining to hear. But I could tell that he knew I had figured it out.

" Zeus is punishing them through their kids." I said it more to myself than him, but he nodded grimly.

"Now you see why I had Darius do it. I'm simply returning the favor… and using this as a bargaining chip"

"Ok… but what did he do to your kids- if you have any."

"Twins actually." He said in a sad voice. "Believe me, I got lucky. Some demi-Titans were killed in storms that people called 'freak accidents'. But… I thought I could protect them…"

He looked so lost and devastated that I thought he would burst out in tears. "Maybe you could start from the beginning."

" Well, you know how it goes. I met a nice lady. One thing led to another and then the twins came. I decided to side with Kronos because I had foreseen him winning. But of course, things changed. I tried to…I tried to hide them from the Olympians. Their mother went out one day to buy them birthday presents. "

Something told me the next part wasn't going to be good. For once, I'm sorry to say that I was right.

"There was a an 'unexpected' storm and while she was driving back home… the car was hit by lightning. She didn't make it. They went outside to see the storm and… they almost died. They were only nine."

For a moment I thought he was lying. I didn't know Zeus very well, but I didn't think he would do something like that. They were small kids and Zeus had tried to kill them? I looked at Prometheus' face and saw the pain he tried to hide. And to think it had happened a year ago…

"I should've seen it before it happened but…I didn't. I can't protect them anymore. It's forbidden. But knowing Zeus would stop at nothing to kill them… I needed outside help. But if I had tried to ask you without using this plan, would you have listened?"

Then I remembered what he'd said about the disease at camp being a bargaining chip. But what was he trying to gain?

" You half-bloods say we should blame them for their parents' mistakes. Marshall and Caitlin shouldn't be any different. They should be able to stay at camp Half-Blood as well."

I was a little shocked. What did he expect me to do? Go up to Chiron and say, _ Hey. I need you to make a cabin for a Titan's kids because it's fair._ Something told me the only part of that sentence he would hear was 'Titan' and 'cabin' before kicking me out. But if I didn't, then there wouldn't be a camp to go back to.

" I'll see what I can do."

"And I want this done for all of the other half Titans."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"It's only fair." He said, trying to keep his voice steady. "It shouldn't make a difference who their parent is."

Just then, the door under the metal stairs opened and out came Darius and two other kids. The both had black hair, dark eyes and a few scars on their arms. They looked so much like their father it was scary, except for their mouths, which were thin. The boy was carrying a small sketchbook and the girl was talking to Darius who, for once, looked relaxed.

"Hey, Dad." Said the boy in a quiet voice. He continued to write in his book before talking. "Darius wanted us to come and visit."

He looked up and studied me intently. It was kind of creepy, but then he smiled said, "Hi, I'm Marshall."

It would be an understatement to say I felt bad about thinking they would be evil. Caitlin just waved before talking to Darius again.

"Tara, I need you to swear to me on the Styx that you'll do what I've asked." Prometheus said while staring me straight in the eye. "

"I will." I said as the thunder rolled above my head. "But you have to swear to me- on the Styx – that doing this won't bring harm to the camp, anyone in it or the gods AND you have to promise to give me the cure."

He raised an eyebrow for the second time that day. "How should I know whether it'd harm the camp?"

"You're the Titan of foresight. You tell me."

He grinned and swore on the Styx. What looked like relief came onto his face. He pulled out a small flower from his pocket.

"For me? You shouldn't have." I said mockingly.

"It has the antidote in it. And believe me. Having them at camp may prove to help you in the near future." Before I could even try to get an explanation, he said simply then turned away to talk to Darius. Owen and Rollin were let out of the other room and they came running over to me, like I was in danger. I quickly filled them in and more I said, the wider their eyes got.

"That's a pretty big commitment." Said Rollin. "Something tells me this is going to be easier said than done."

"Maybe we should Iris message camp to tell them we're alright." Said Owen.

"No, I think we should wait until we're face to face when we tell them this…" I said, still a little dazed. I had no clue how we were going to get Chiron or the gods to agree with this. But he would have to if he wanted the cure...

"You know the eagle we fought?" asked Rollin. "It's the same one that Zeus sent to yank out his liver while he was in Tartarus. Called the Caucasian Eagle. That's why I was confused to see it here."

"Why would he keep the animal that caused him that kind of pain?" Owen asked confused.

"It's an intelligent bird." called Prometheus, who was now on the balcony talking to Darius and the twins. "After being freed from Tartarus, it became a kind of pet."

"Well, we sort of knocked it unconscious." I muttered. To my surprise he just shrugged.

"It'll live."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Another hour later, the twins and Darius all came out of the back room with small suitcases and a backpack.

"He's coming, too?" Owen asked suspiciously.

"He's grown quite fond of them." Prometheus said sadly. The twins didn't look too happy either. I felt guilty for some reason. Maybe it was because I was taking them away from the one parent figure they had left.

_It's for the best_ I thought, trying to convince myself. We all loaded our things in the elevator and went in. Trying to make conversation, asked Darius a few questions. "So, if you're a demigod-or demititan- whose your parent?"

He was silent for awhile and I took the time to really look at him. He had close cropped chestnut hair, a lean build and grey eyes that could've been silver. There was a curved scar on his left cheek and a usually serious demeanor. There was a small bow on his back and a sword at his hip. I remembered that he had tried to kill me, but decided to let it pass considering out circumstances.

"I don't know,but I lived with my dad. I don't think she's ever tried to contact me. Prometheus took me in one day. He said I had great things ahead of me. Got someone to train me and... control myself."

"Control yourself?" Rollin asked nervously.

"Fits of rage." Marshall muttered. "Used to happen a lot."

"But not anymore, right Dary?" asked Caitlin. For the first time, I saw him grin.

Darius was the one who led us out of the mountain. He said something about not wanting us to let any of the traps loose. When we looked outside, it was around noon and and the sun was almost on its way down.

"I'm guessing he didn't give any useful mode of transportation?" I asked Darius. He shook his head and I sighed, wondering if I could find that UPS guy again. But then Rollin took out his pipes again and started to play a very loud rendition of Beat It. No, seriously. We all cringed and had to cover our ears. I could tell Darius was this close to slicing the satyrs head off when we felt the ground beneath us tremble beneath.

"It's Zeus!" cried Owen. "He's going to pull us into Tartarus!"

We all dived out of the way. We were half right. A huge crack formed in the ground, but instead of being dragged in by skeletons, a large tree sprouted out. It looked like it could've been there for years. There was a large hollow inside of it. I looked over at Rollin.

"Care to explain?"

"It's a conjuring song I've been working on." he said. "If I'm correct, we can teleport to camp using this tree _if_ there is a tree of the same species at camp...Tara, why are you looking at me like that?"

" Rollin,if we could've just crossed half the country traveling by TREES." I said, trying to control my anger. "Why didn't you say something so we wouldn't have had to through all that trouble."

"Well, it wasn't perfected yet." he sputtered. "I wasn't completely sure what would happen. How would you know where to go? How would you even get there. There was a lot of stuff to consider. Besides, if I didn't get it right, I could've gotten us stuck in a tree, like Hyperion.

"It still would've been nice to know." I grumbled. "Are you sure it'll work?"

"About... sixty-five percent sure."

That wasn't very good.

"What about the other thirty-five?" demanded Darius. "You expect me to just send them in there with no clear idea that it'll work?"

"We're running out of time." Owen pointed out.

Eventually we all decided to just go for it. It was the only way and I'd rather be stuck in a tree than suffering in Tartarus. At least we could get a nymph to pull us out. So, with this in mind, we all stepped into the hollow in the trunk. Even though the tree was huge, it wasn't like we could walk around in it and I soon found myself constantly pushing away from Owen only to end up leaning into Darius. It was then i realized why Rollin had said it was so dangerous. We could end up teleporting into the next tree with our limbs attached to each other.

Soon, Rollin started to play a more calming tune and I thought the travel would be easy. But then the hollow in the tree closed up and we were shrouded in darkness. Then Caitlin cried out and I couldn't blame her. It would've been a nightmare for anyone who was a serious claustrophobic in there. Then the ground gave way ad we were sucked downwards so quickly I thought I felt my sneaker come off. It had to be the single most terrifying moment in my life. It felt like we were disintegrating. At one point, I even got some dirt in my mouth. But then we were pushed out and my back hit something solid. It was the inside of a gnarled tree. The hollow opened and I recognized the forest at once. We had made it.

"Thank Gaia." breathed Rollin as he collapsed to the forest floor in exhaustion. Owen looked relieved and a little pale. The twins and Darius looked disoriented, but I couldn't blame them.

"Welcome home." I said. We had landed on the side of the forest closer to the cabins. While walking towards the Big House and I gave them a quick tour. But all I really wanted to do was get this quest over with so I could go on with life. We made it just in time to see Mr. D and Chiron heading towards. When the god of wine caught sight of me, he furrowed his eyebrows.

"My goodness,Tina, we ordered you to get a cure and you come back with more demigods?" he said exasperated.

"Actually they're-" I stopped Owen with a nudge of the elbow and with my eyes told him to wait.

"Tara. They said you were dead." Chiron said with amazement. "What happened?"

"It's a really long story." I said and tried to stifle a yawn. He just nodded and we all went in the direction of the amphitheater. It annoyed me to know we'd have to walk all the way back there, but I didn't say anything. All of the campers were sitting in almost complete silence. On a table was a green and white shroud with a small torch in a holder. When everyone caught sight of me, some gasped, others were at a loss of words and some- probably form the Ares cabin-shouted "Dammit! Why didn't she die?"

They all looked pretty sick, but somehow found the breathe to yell at me and Chiron. When I saw my half- siblings I ran over to them. I didn't think I'd miss them that much.

"Owen sent us an Iris message saying you'd died in the Rockies." Connor said. "Why didn't you message camp to tell us you were okay?"

"We were rushing to finish and I might've forgotten." I said.

"Forgotten?" they yelled indignantly.

With everyone looking at me, Chiron made me retell the story. I left out a few, ahem, personal details, but I did mention Kade. When I mentioned the giants, a few people gasped. When I mentioned Prometheus, well, they booed. Marshall and Caitlin didn't take that very well.

"So, the bottom line is I made a promise that we'd give demititans a place at camp." I said.

"And if we don't." said Mr D.

"Well, that would mean I'd end up in Tartarus for breaking an oath-"

"Well, that I can live with." he interrupted. "So where's this flower?"

"What?" I said incredulously. "That's just messed up! What about the twins?"

"They aren't staying here. That's for sure." said one camper. "You weren't here when the Titans tried to take over. You wouldn't understand."

"I think I understand." I said angrily. "I think that the same crap that got you into that war is starting to happen again."

"Mr. D, this isn't necessary." frowned Chiron. But I didn't think there was much he could do. "Although he does have a point. Prometheus sided in Kronos."

"Not in the first war!"yelled Caitlin angrily. She definitely didn't enjoy the way they were talking about her dad. "He tried to help. He even tried to help Percy, even thought they weren't on the same side. I doubt he's ever hurt anyone. And in the end, my mother ended up dead because SOMEONE was on a vengeance streak."

I was surprised at the outburst. I doubt she got it from her father's side.

"Yeah, if you don't want history repeating itself again, stop shutting us out all the time. We aren't all evil." piped Marshall.

Mr D still didn't look convinced. "Just hand us the plant so we can all leave."

The situation seemed hopeless. There was nothing that could convince them that this wouldn't hurt the camp- not even the oath. But then the line in th prophecy came back to me: _If the do not change their way, All will fall by the end of day._ Hestia was sitting near the lower benches and looking at me intently. Her coal like eyes reminded me of the fire that had showed me the images. It had been her. If I didn't get them to change their mind, the campers would never be healed.

_You may feel lost. But you will be triumphant in the end. But you have to consider your choices._ That's what she'd told me.

Then I remembered what Prometheus had done to convince the camp to put me on a quest.

I grabbed the torch and pulled out the flower he had given me. The entire camp held its breathe. Mr D. narrowed his eyes and Chiron looked alarmed.

"As far as I know, this thing is the only one of its kind and plants burn pretty easily." I stated while trying to hide my fear. "So I wouldn't make any sudden movements."

"If you don't put that torch down-" began Mr D.

"You'll do what?" I challenged. "It can't be much worse than ending up in Tartarus, which is what's going to happen to me one way or another, right?"

I had a point. If I gave it up, I'd end up in Hades for breaking a promise. If I didn't, I'd still end up there because of Zeus' decree. It was a lose-lose situation with only one way out.

"What do you want?" asked Chiron.

"I want the both of you to swear to me on the Styx that demi-titans _will_ have a home here. You have to build cabins and train them like any other half-blood. They're no different than us."

Suddenly, images of my worst nightmares entered my was like being hit i the head by a brick. I saw my friends and siblings, chained together while we made our descent into a a cave where agonizing cries of pain echoed off of the walls. Then it changed to a image of Kade being mauled by a monster. Worst of all, I saw my dad, beaten and bruised. He looked up at me.

"You failed?"

"Stop!" I screamed and stumbled. Owen must've thought something was up because he pulled out his sword and swung it at Mr. D. "Get back!" he roared. The fat man stumbled backwards and suddenly the images in my head dissipated. When I opened my eyes, Owen was next to me and so was Rollin, though he did looked scared. My hands were shaking uncontrollably, but I steadied them.

"Do you swear?" I said as strongly as I could.

Mr.D glowered at me before saying, "I swear." Chiron followed suit and I handed him the flower. There was a bright light as Apollo came down and literally snatched the flower right out of his hands. But he smiled afterwards to make up for it. Then he looked my way, like he was studying me intently.

"You're an interesting one, Tara Rown." he said.

"Yeah...that's me...." I said in a shaky voice. All of a sudden I stumbled backwards. Luckily, Owen caught me before I cracked my head on one of the seats. But my vision was so blurry that I could barely see his face.

Then I blacked out.

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**Yes, I know. The cliffies are getting annoying. But it's my way of making up for not updating days ago. It's a little long, but it explains a lot. I hope you liked it. One more chapter left until the sequel.**

**LT**


	17. Only Our Beginning

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO**

**Ok, this is it. The last chapter. Kind of a filler, but it's good. So read it. And there's a summary to the second story at the bottom.**

Chapter Seventeen Only Our Beginning

"Are you sure she's alright?"

"I did the best I could. She's really over exhausted."

"The brat will live. It's not like I drugged her that much…"

" You've got a lot of nerve attacking my daughter like that, Dionysus."

"Watch your tone-"

"Or what? You'll turn me into a bundle of grapes? I'd like to see you try! How about I shove my caduceus up your-"

"Um, I think she's waking up."

"What? Tara?"

All of those voices in a place I didn't know very well. I opened my eyes a little to see several eyes staring back at me. As my vision cleared, I noticed Mr. D, Apollo, Owen, Rollin, some other campers and my dad.

"Dad!" I got up and tried to hug him, but immediately regretted it as the pain in my head started again. I lied back down again and groaned. "Why does it feel like I just had a major hangover?"

Everyone glared at Mr. D as he rolled his eyes. "She's alive isn't she?"

All I could do was sigh. "How long was I out _this_ time?"

"Just a few hours." Apollo grinned. "I made the cure. So everyone's fine. But of course, there's no need to thank me."

"Thank you, O great one,Lord Apollo." I said while trying not to roll my eyes. When everyone realized that I was fine, Mr. D, most of the campers and Apollo left. Dad came over and hugged me. For some reason, Rollin and Owen took this as the cue to leave. They probably sensed a father-daughter moment coming on.

"So you did it." He said grinning. He was his old self again, wearing a jogging suit , winged Yankees hat and winged Reeboks. George and Martha were grinning at me from their positions on the caduceus, which looks pretty funny because they're snakes.

_Yesss, you saved us big time_ . Hissed Martha. _I don't remember Hermes getting in that much trouble since he stole Apollo'ssss cattle!_

_It'sss true. If I'd stayed in Hades any longer, I would've gone nutsss._ Grumbled George.

"Yeah, but not without Rollin and Owen." I said. "Couldn't have done it without them."

"Yes, well, I told you that you'd do great things."

But something was still bugging me.

"When I was in his lab, Prometheus said that having demititans at camp would help us in the near future." I said. "Since he's the titan of forethought…"

"You think he's seen a new threat." He said frowning. "I'm not going to lie. The majority of his predictions have always been correct."

"So this isn't over yet." I said as my stomach seemed to sink. But to make it better he smiled.

"Tara, a year ago we defeated one of the greatest threats ever known to mankind." He said reassuringly. "I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us next. But for now, just enjoy life as it comes. No worries, ok?"

I nodded and just then his caduceus turned into a cell phone and began to vibrate. He frowned and answered it. Then he hung up and sighed.

"Business call?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be fine." I said while drinking a soda, or was it ambrosia? "You can go."

He was about to leave when I thought of something. "Hang on!"

He raised an eyebrow. "When…when I used Kleftis to find that secret passage in the mountains, it started to glow. How –"

"-does it do that?" he finished my sentence. "That's still a bit of a mystery for me. I have a shrine in the Rockies- for travelers- because I was born in a cave on Mt. Cyllene. I'm not sure when, but a while back, I might've had a few children who made underground tunnels all over America and one of them must've been made near the shrine. It might've been my daughter, maybe her name was Harriet, who owned it before. But… I think the sword can sense when one of them is close."

"But the writing…"

Then he gave his trademark crooked grin. "Every good thief needs to have a quick escape."

It makes sense when you think about it. If you're running from the police on a dark night, the first thing you'll need is a place to hide. I just laughed and shook my head. He gave me one last hug.

"I'll see you around."

In the blink of an eye and a flash of light, he was gone. I took the time to look around the infirmary in the Big House. It was clean, white and quiet. I hated hospitals and anything that looks remotely like one.

Without a second thought, I jumped out of the bed and was glad to find out that I wasn't in any of those hospital dresses (shudder). I grabbed my backpack, made sure nothing was missing and headed out. By now it was around six in the evening, but I didn't find anyone at the lake or the cabins. So I ran down to the beach, trying to get the stiffness out of my legs from the 'tree incident'. To my surprise, I saw campers swimming, playing Frisbee and pretty much having a full blown party. It was almost like the disease hadn't affected them at all.

"Tara."

I yelped and spun around only to see Owen grinning (sound familiar?). Once again, I punched him in the shoulder.

"Gods. Stop doing that!" I said irritably. He just continued laughing as we walked towards the beach. It was just like old times. There, we dug huge holes in the sand and covered them with beach towels. Aiden almost drowned us with salt water when he fell in while holding plate full of nachos ("And to think we saved him." mumbled Owen). We lost him in the woods, but came back with the rest of the Hermes cabin and sprayed people with crazy string. The Aphrodite cabin didn't take that very well…

"Do you KNOW how long this is going to take to get this stuff out?" one of them shrieked.

"...A few minutes?" suggested Connor. He got pelted with tubes of lipstick for that.

After another hour, I left the party. Owen and I took a jog along the beach to look for Rollin.

"You know Mr. D is the one that made you pass out, right?" Owen said while trying to jog.

"I kind of figured that out." I muttered still not very happy about it. "But it's nothing compared to the crap we've been through."

He grinned. "Not bad for a first quest, huh?" I nodded in agreement.

We jogged for another five minutes before he said, "Can we stop a minute?"

We sat at the edge of the forest, watching the waves go back and forth. For a while neither of us said anything. After everything that happened, could we really put all of our feelings into words?

" I shouldn't have acted that way." He said remorsefully.

"What way?"

" Towards you or Kade." He said. This time, he didn't say the name with disdain. " I shouldn't be the only guy friend in your life… even though it looks like you two are a bit more than that. Everything's just moved so fast… Before all this, it was just you and me, trying to get through school. But now it's…so much more different. Like a whole other world and I'm still trying to figure out how we ended up here. But, just because we're seeing a lot more of each other than before doesn't mean I should be this protective. I have to let you grow up sometime."

" That's just how you are." I stated. He shook his head.

"After you ….died, I felt _terrible_. I mean, we've been best friends forever and… I thought you died thinking I hated you. It was the first time I'd cried since….Actually, I'm not sure I've ever cried that hard before."

I couldn't help but smile, just a little.

"The point is I don't want anything to come between our friendship. No guy-"

"Or girl in your case." I pointed out.

"- should come between us." He said smiling. "We'll always be friends- no matter how suspicious I am of him."

I sighed. Getting him to accept Kade was going to take awhile. If he ever made it back.

_Don't think like that_. I thought angrily. _He'll make it. He promised._

To take my mind off of it, I decided to push Owen's buttons.

"So….it wouldn't matter to you if I kissed him?" I said slyly. I saw his eyes narrowed.

His eyes widened. "You _kissed_ that-" then he stopped and he calmed down. " As long as it wasn't more than five seconds."

He looked at me expectantly and I looked the other way. He groaned and said " He's almost a year older than you. Isn't that weird? What if you two ended up going to the same school or something?"

"Owen, last year you dated your next door neighbor who was two years older than you were!" I said shaking my head. "And she went to the high school a few blocks from ours."

"She was different." he said pouting because it hadn't ended very well (And by that I mean she cheated on him with some guy named Andy). "At least I wasn't lip locking with some shady teenage criminal..."

"And you call me the immature one." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Actually, I think that title could go to the both of you." Said Rollin. He was walking from behind a large elm tree, munching on what looked like lettuce. In his other hand was a small package. "I got the pictures developed."

"Really?" Owen said. He took the pictures from him at once.

"You see?" huffed Rollin. "A mature person would've _asked_ for the pictures, not- Okay, I'm going to stop talking because you two obviously aren't listening."

We scanned through the pictures. My favorite was the one we took in this town called Kremmling in the Rockies. In this picture, I had been making funny faces behind Rollin and Owen. And this lady who had accidentally gotten in the picture was looking at me funnily while I did it. Hey. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

" How are the twins and Darius?" I asked. Rollin shrugged.

"They fit in pretty well. They got rooms in the Big House until their cabin is built."

"You don't think they would betray us, right?" Owen said.

" No." I must've said it with some assertiveness, because neither one of them brought it up again. Prometheus had risked a lot to get them to safety and I doubted he would've done that just to have them betray the camp. And considering we outnumbered them, the idea would've been absurd. I hoped that in the end, the decision I'd made would've been for the best.

For now, I pushed all of that aside. I would take whatever life decided to throw at me. In a few weeks, I'd be back at school, facing problems that would pale in comparison to what I'd went through. Sure, there would be monsters and I would have to deal with my dysfunctional family. But for that moment, they all seemed far away and all that mattered was that I had my two best friends beside me.

"This has been one summer to remember, huh?" said Owen as he gazed out to sea.

I smiled and stared at the rolling waves. By now, the sun was making its slow descent into the west.

"Yeah... But something tells me it won't be our last."

The End....for now

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**PLEASE READ!!!**

**YES! I finished it! All those hours of hard work. It paid off. Now I've got to work on the three other ideas I have : S**

**Hm... I stink at endings, don't I? I'll probably revise it a few times before I feel it's good enough. Feel free to tell me how I did so I'll know what to fix (NO flaming, only constructive criticism). I hope I addressed everything I needed to. The second one will (I think) be called Easier Said Than Done and takes place a year later.**

**um.. Short summary: So, demititans have been popping up all over the US. Of course, camp has enough satyrs to get them all, but Mr. D thinks it's only 'fair' that Tara and Owen help out since she brought up the idea. Despite all of the laughs and romance that every teenage camp is bound to have, there's an even large threat on the horizon-one that not even Zeus expected. And it's a threat to everyone-Gods,Titans, mortals and half-bloods alike.**

**Oh I would like to thank:**

**HookedOnAvatar011**

**Clearspring2009**

**Caitlumms**

**You guys have always tried to review (What can I say? Review are awesome :P) and I could tell you enjoyed the story. I hope you'll enjoy part 2... as soon as I start drafting.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**LT**


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